Bend and Break
by WhenToothlessWrites
Summary: Rules inside! Httyd/Rtte one-shots based on whump!Hiccup. Request as you will but please check out the rules. Hurt/Comfort mainly! Rated k for possible references of blood, not much though. Hiccstrid mostly too.
1. Chapter 1

**Heyooo so before this collection starts there are a few things I wanna leave here so you can be better informed for future Requests or even what you're about to find as one-shots.**

 **1) Since It's the best thing I can write, Whump! /Hurt! Hiccup is the center of the Shots;**

 **2) Don't be afraid or ashamed to request even if you're a guest. I don't tend to bite (hehe XD) nor judge your wishes in stories. We all have that something we'd like to read or see in the series and movies so I'm here to give my best shot at providing you that;**

 **3) I'll be posting my own not requested one-shots too;**

 **4) Requests will be done by arriving order. However if I get writer's block on any of them I'll try to write another one instead (dunnot worry yours won't be forgotten)!**

 **5) Dunnot pressure me or ask me why I haven't done yours yet. I'm busy and an anxiety ball at the moment so please cooperante with me XD**

 **6) No swearing! The least I do sometimes is Dam! or my own INNOCENT Viking insults (they're so much fun)**

 **7) YOU MUST TELL ME WHAT TIME OF THE MOVIES OR SERIES IT IS SO OBVIOUSLY PLEASE DUNNOT FORGET! (Protip: I really )love Rtte *wink wink***

 **7) Give me your opinion! Tell me what you like or did not! And if it was your request even more! But as said please be gentle and instead of distructive comments use constructiive ones**

 **8) I ship Hiccstrid so if you don't I'll respect that. The only romantic pair with either Hiccup or Astrid will be Hiccstrid.**

 **9) FRIENDSHIP STORIES YES PLEASE! Being it SnotloutXHiccup cousing bounding (I live for that) or Fishlegs or the twins instead too! Gang support and union is welcome. And of course TOOTHCUP FRIENDSHIP YASSS or even other dragons, you choose.**

 **10) Have fun! That's mostly what fanfiction is for (and shredding your heart and soul with feelings too *winks*)**

 **So that's it and go on! PLEASE REQUEST AS MUCH AS YOU WANT! ONCE, TWICE OR MORE IT DOESNT MATTER! SEE YA ON THE FIRST CHAPTER! XD**


	2. Gray light

**HE HE HE C'MON LET'S GO! Okay let's start this. This one story is more of a Comfort one. Hope you like it! XD**

 **Summary: "Why didn't you tell me?" "Because you're not my mom... I don't have to bug you with my problems-" It's the anneversery of Valka's death and a recently started relationship can get in the way of being miserable alone and trying to swallow your feelings whole. -ONE SHOT! TAKES PLACE AFTER S4 (might divert from future canon)**

"Ah, Astrid. Mornin' lass. How ya doin'?" Greeted Stoick the Vast. His voice sounded emotionless, unlike usual. If anything, it looked like if he was the one answering that question, the answer wouldn't be that positive.

Astrid smiled brightly at the sight of her Chief at first but then her comfortable grin turned into a sheepishly one as she silently cursed herself for having knocked on the Haddock's door.

I could've waited for him to leave the house anyway...

"Ermm... Yes sir- I mean, great! Great. And yo-" She almost choked on her own tongue. Even being polite, Stoick the Vast didn't seem like telling her- or anyone for that matter- how he was feeling. " -I hmm... I was actually wondering if you-"

"Knew where Hiccup was." Stoick finished for her making the blonde standing in front of him almost jump several feet down the hill. Did he know Astrid and Hiccup were a... a thing? No. They were still deciding how to tell Hiccup's father the dangerous fact that... they were dating, for real... Without having their heads cut off or their butts kicked off the island or- Well there really wasn't anyway to guess the man's reaction.

He motioned to leave and Astrid moved aside so he could pass. "Still in his room lass. I'm sure it'll be good for him to see ya."

"Yeah yeah... Wait- it will?" Astrid mumbled, feeling utterly confused while she watched the Viking walk down the hill followed by Skullcrusher to start another day of chiefing.

"Oh Val... They don't know how keep a secret do they?" Stoick thought. "If only you were here." He sighed. He looked behind and smiled, even with so much longing inside of him, the sight of a very confused blonde head walking inside the now smaller house made it all better. It'd be good to have Astrid in the family and perhaps she'd be able to cheer Hiccup up. This day was always hard for the Haddocks but as he grew up, it'd become even harder for Hiccup since the boy started to have and now had much more notion of its meaning.

Astrid hurried up the stairs, jumping two steps here and another one there. She was just too excited! Yesterday, she'd gone training to Raven Point with Stormfly and taught her a new trick. It involved her making circular movements with her hands, her Nadder spinning on the same spot she was flying in (like a tornado) while shooting spines, and their enemies (whoever they might be now) having a lot of trouble and pain yanking the spines from their butts.

...That and she might be missing her favourite dork... Like, a lot. She missed him and wanted to try and lighten some weight off his shoulders. Ever since the Edge went... KABOOM?... that he'd been (even while insisting that everything was fine of course...) exhausted?, dreary?, cheerless?, melancholic?, pensitive?...

...Gray?

And there was no better way to cheer Hiccup up than talking about dragons.

"Hic-" She started joyfully only to end disappointed. "-cup?..."

She looked around his room, the smell of charcoal instantly reaching her nose. She looked at his empty bed where something laid as if it were either tossed there or forgotten.

Hadn't Stoick said he was there?

Walking towards the object she found it to be just... more charcoal. And where there was charcoal there was Hiccup- at least usually.

Then why wasn't he there? Had he left while she and Stoicked exchanged words?

"Hmmm... I wonder..." She walked over to Toothless' stone bed and touched it, wincing at how hot it actually was.

"He did. He just left?" She mumbled out loud. Ohh, if he'd gone back to the Edge... The place was certainly crawling with smoke, ash, cinder, scobs... Everything but healthy stuff.

Or was he just avoiding her?

She found herself outside, closing the house's door and hoping herself onto Stomfly's saddle. The Deadly Nadder chirped, obviously questioning why she'd been so fast and why Toothless and his rider hadn't come too.

"Yeah, I know girl. Weird him not being there. Come on, we've got a sly, one-legged rider on the loose."

...

Thank the gods Hiccup wasn't missing every day for he sure knew how to disappear if he wanted to.

The sillouette of a graceful dragon painted the blue sky in its circles, like a predator aiming for an innocent prey living its life on the ground. This wasn't that case. The poor blue Deadly Nadder soared over the whole village. Stormfly had exhausted her wings the whole day looking for her rider's mate and the incomplete of a human still hadn't given signs of being alive.

Astrid was hard to define. She looked ready to cut someone's head off herself, and she probably would've done it either to Snotlout or the twins if they bothered her. All she had to do was yank her axe off her back and-

Who was she kidding, not even Fishlegs' big head would be enough for her to feel fine. Hiccup... That iron-headed, excuse of a boyfriend... making her worry, and be angry and want to rip people's heads off without it being for communication!

She just... didn't know. She was mad at him for avoiding her and yet she was worried about him. What if some crazy, mentally delayed tribe or enemy decided to kidnap him?, What if some bounty hunters took him? Although false the bounty on Hiccup's head hadn't been canceled and so he still had a price on his head. Hel, she didn't even know if bounties could be canceled!

She couldn't bear to see him like last time he was taken, when the chain marks and rope burns started appearing-

No! He had to be on Berk. Stoick had said he was in his room and there was no way someone could've gone inside the chief's house and kidnapped them. 1) Toothless wouldn't let, 2) Astrid and Stoick would hear it, 3) She got inside as soon as Stoick left.

Meaning, she should be totally mad at him. Why was he hiding from her? Because, yes, at this point she knew that was what was happening.

"Let's go down girl." Astrid patted Stormfly's back has they started their way downwards, much for the Nadder's relief.

...

"Oh I saw him near the docks lass, seemed a little off... Oh I was leaving the Great Hall and they flew above me... I said the docks? Ahaha.. erm I meant they soared above Gothi's sorry... I'm not constantly looking at the sky girl... I think..?" Astrid complained, quoting the last people she'd talked to, more like a whisper than anything.

"Stupid villagers. I could use them as much as pipes in a funeral..." Stormfly squealed once more, that was a strange comparison. Astrid stopped to look at her Nadder. " Yeah I don't know either. I'm no longer making sense. I should've stopped by now but... Something's off. Hiccup doesn't just vanish for nothing. He never avoided me, and certainly not this way!"

Looking to the sky she gasped at its colours. The once blue sky was now orangish, a beautiful colour indeed. Then she noticed where she'd walked up to. The hill with the chief's house.

"Help me here girl." she climbed onto the saddle and with gentle wing blasts Stormfly flew her rider at the window's level. The room was still empty. The charcoal still on the bed and Toothless' stone bed now cold. Even with such an amazing colour of sunlight all Astrid's eyes caught was gray. Gray and more gray. Gray light. Gray sadning gray.

Hiccup wasn't home yet and now it'd been Astrid's heart going KABOOM!

She literally strangled the saddle, head hanging down. What was going on?

"To the sky girl." Astrid said with a small voice. The least she wanted was for Stoick (who didn't even seem that okay either) to find her flying there, looking inside Hiccup's room.

Odin, what's wrong with the Haddocks today?

They soared in the direction of Berk's forest, Astrid had some tree cutting to do...

As the two girls flew through the green tree tops Astrid's mind clicked.

"Wait!" She shouted without actually meaning to. All those completly different places the hooligans had told her about had nothing to do with each other. And that was what they all had in common! He must've done all this precisely to confuse her or anyone else! And she knew just the place he would be found in- Somewhere she'd already checked- the cove.

He really wanted to be alone, which was exactly why she wouldn't let him. She couldn't. Whatever was bothering Hiccup had to be something deep... troubling..

In a second Stormfly's paws had touched the grassy ground of the cove and that's when Astrid realised they'd arrived already. Her boots touched the grassy ground and as she looked straight up ahead, her heart skipped a beat.

Hiccup.

And Toothless.

Anger built deep inside her as she marched forward with heavy footsteps. She'd looked here before but the sly idiot had thought one of his Thor-damned plans to make sure she checked the cove before he actually settled in there. Thor! He'd probably seen her calling his name and looking all around the place like a crazy chicken.

And that enraged her. Oh it did. All the worriedness for his disappearance now long gone for there he was, laid almost under Toothless' wing and throwing rocks into the lake.

With huge Thumps thuMPS TUMPHS on the grass Astrid found herself side by side with the wide eyed dragon. Toothless' ear flaps were up and the dragon besides looking pretty attentive offered her a 'watch what' ya doing or I'll bite your head off' glare.

Toothless protecting Hiccup from her? She was mad and pretty intimidating but what was going on? These thoughs assaulted her mind for a second but she was way too angry with the boy for making her look for him all day like a brainless sheep running back and forth to pay attention to them.

The beautiful, pissed off shieldmaden shooed Toothless' wing away, finding Hiccup's back facing her. She grabbed his arm, forcing him to look at her while she gave him a piece of her mind.

"YOU KNOW, IF YOU DIDN'T WANT TO SEE ME YOU COULD'VE SAID IT. IT'D SAVE US BOTH THE TROUBLE! BUT DISAPPEARING FOR A HOLE FREAKING DAY YOU IDIOT!? FOR ODIN'S VERY BEARDS I WAS SO WORRIED WHAT WERE YOU THIN-?" She finally opened her eyes to look straight into his face and that's when... well, she looked at him for the first time.

His arm was hanging limply from her grasp, he wasn't even fighting her. His knees now laid in a weird looking position, as if he had them close to his chest before being surprised and turned around by her. His face was a mix between fear, surprise, guilt and... sorrow. The first two probably her fault. His eyes...the two shining emerald, forest green irises were the saddest she remembered ever seeing on him. Tears spilled from them down his cheeks until his chin where they disappeared for falling somewhere onto the light-green grass.

"-king...? Oh Thor, what happened!?" She asked, cupping her hand on his wet cheek. This time, all the anger and stress she'd felt before had escaped through her broken heart.

Hiccup tried to turn away, move away, curl into himself to let her out but she didn't let go of his arm. With his free hand the boy cleaned his eyes and cheeks, trying to clear all the evidences of the fact that he'd been crying. "N'thin'" He muttered, looking down and away from her.

"Hey come on." She tried, raising his chin with her free hand and making him face her.

"Nothing... really" Hiccup smiled at her, trying to reassure her and perhaps make her go away. The smile didn't reach his eyes and those kept shining with the same rythme his chest shuddered. He was holding back the tears and the sobs and she knew it. Astrid wouldn't leave him until he spilled it all out, even if they had to spend the night there.

"Yeah, I'm not buying it. Sorry Dragon Boy." She replied. "Now are you telling me what's wrong or are we camping here for the night?"

Hiccup muttered something under his breath that Astrid didn't quite catch- especially now that he'd looked down again- but she could have sworn she heard him saying "we camping here". It didn't surprise her though.

An idea flashed through her mind. "It's Viggo isn't it? Viggo, Ryker, The Edge."

Hiccup shook his head "It's nothing As...trid. Rea-lly." His voice cracked. Oh. One of the worst feelings in the world was hearing the crack on the voice of someone who's about to cry. Especially someone you love.

"Of course." She mumbled.

Another involuntary tear fell from his eye and Astrid couldn't handle it anymore.

"What's wrong with you Haddocks today? Your dad wasn't normal either!" She complained. "Please let me help you Hiccup. You were there when I went blind, when I had the Scourge, when my family's house was destroyed. Dam! You were always there, even after IT, without any remorse and without asking us to apologize. Let me be here for you now and for whatever more. Just tell me, let me help you. Don't be so dam stubborn!"

"I can't tell you something that doesn't exist." He looked at her again, his chest shaking. It was obvious he was holding his feelings back and that was no good. That's when she realised she'd never seen him cry. Never. And it was impossible for a person not to cry for at least 4 or 5 years. Meaning...

He didn't want her to see him as week. Even now that they were... well, more than friends. They'd been best friends for years and they still were but now there was something different -and good, like another EVEN bigger sense of trust and comfort- that came with dating.

And she knew the feeling of wanting to look strong though he would never seem weak before her even if he cried.

Her own words popped in her mind "He's Hiccup. Sometimes his pride is bigger than his brain."

"I'm fine." He said.

Liar.

"Fine?!..." She exclaimed, a small sarcastic laugh following next as if to insist on the worthless stupidity that was him lying to her. The irony on her question also enhancing it. "Your pride can wait Hiccup."

She looked at him by the corner of her eyes. They were now sitting side by side, watching the lake reflect the last rays of the warming orange sunlight.

Stormfly had laid more on Astrid's side, occasionaly glancing towards Toothless- noticing how tense the Night Fury was- and the couple- observing Astrid and fuming yet pitying the unfinished excuse of a viking that made her fly all day searching for him and also made her pretty worried. Toothless was behind them both, right in the middle. The dragon appeared restless and to be needing a good flight to clear his head. Astrid didn't judge him though. She knew how close those two were, almost looking like they shared a mental bond. What one felt, the other did too.

Astrid...She just wanted to BE THERE. She just wanted to see him happy. Seeing him happy with that excited and sometimes goofy, Hiccup-y smile made her happy. She just wanted to kiss and hug him and tell him everything would be alright. She just wanted it ALL TO BE ALRIGHT. BUT SHE DIDNT EVEN KNOW WHAT THE ALL WAS!

They were both with their knees to their chests, simply sitting there in each other's presence. Their shoulders almost touched and while Astrid sat that way only to rest her chin on her knees, Hiccup seemed to be having a fight between his head and his knees. The boy had his head hid in his legs and chest, pushing his head so much against his knees that his neck shook and his forehead was probably red already. He was struggling to fight that stupid stinging in his eyes and silently cursing Astrid being so stubborn.

He was so tense his body was shaking.

He was so tense her own body was now shaking too.

"Fine. If you don't want to tell me then I won't force you. But don't you force yourself to swallow those feelings." She blurted.

Astrid suddenly hugged him, earning a gasp of surprise by Hiccup's part. She kept her arms around his head, one of her hands soothening his messy, untamabble auburn hair. His face was against her chest and her chin rested on the top of his head. After a while Hiccup embraced her back tightly by her waist. Astrid felt Toothless wrap them tighter with his tail. The dragon closed his wings in a dome and everything went black.

There was just the three of them. Just them, no world. And Stormfly outside too...

Soon enough she felt her shirt starting to get wet. He was crying, the sound muffled by her body but noticeable enough. And she let him. It was good to cry. To let it all out.

She wouldn't judge him and she wanted him to know that. She loved him. Why would she make fun of him? Why didn't he realize that? And even if she didn't, why would she judge someone for crying? That would be mean and stupid.

For a while the only thing she heard and felt was Hiccup. That was all that matered. Hiccup.

Then he slowed down. Her shirt was already considerably ready to be put hanging somewhere to dry out but he eventually slowed down.

And when he did he ever so slowly looked up letting Astrid check him with the bit of light Toothless's wings let in. "So..Sssorry" And Astrid almost laughed? Blood shot eyes. Wet cheeks. Bangs slightly glued to his forehead for having touched her wet shirt. Big, green, shining irises. Scared expression. SCARED, FRIGHTNED, DOUBTFUL EXPRESSION...?! He was afraid of her reaction!

And he looked so cute.

Like a small baby dragon who'd gotten himself into serious trouble. Again.

Gotta keep and never let out of sight again.

Gotta take care of and protect.

She managed to control herself, smiling sweetly and playing with his hair."Better?" She asked, looking down. He was agape, his eyes wide open and still watery but he seemed calmer nonetheless.

He shook his head. Yes.

"Will talking about it help you?"

He shook his head. No.

"I- I know... Yo- you angry?..." He asked uncertanly.

Astrid droped a gentle kiss on his forehead. She was thankful for them already being together by that time. If she had to see him go through this whatever problem like before she wouldn't be able to kiss him. To hug him like this. To tell him how much she loved him. Not that it would've been impossible then, but admiting her feelings for him in such situation would've been 1) Hardy har har and (of course) definitly embarassing for her and then for him and 2) it would only leave the poor thing more confused and lost.

Only this wasn't the case. And she could give him all the love he needed and deserved (and she kind of liked kissing him... Like... a lot...).

"Why would I?"

Hiccup swallowed thickly, looking down and trying to move away from her and into the darkness of the wings. From above them Toothless snorted as if saying "yeah, why would she?".

Even the unholy offspring of lightning and Death itself knew she wouldn't EVER make fun of Hiccup. Even more for crying!

"Hey." She stopped him, pushing him towards her embrace again. "I asked you a question. Why would I? Why would I be mad at you Hiccup?"

His voice cracked. "Why... why wouldn't you?"

"Because I love you and besides there is nothing wrong about crying. It just shows you care." She stated naturally before freezing. Both of them froze for a second.

It was obvious and kind of subtitle since ever but they'd never actually said those words. Those three little yet so powerful words. Precious, faithful I love you.

Funny, she'd always though it'd be him saying them first for Hiccup was better at words than she was. But she guessed that even knowing it deep down already, even acknowleging it by all the other sweet, honest statements, these three ones would come out for the first time all by themselves. When they were needed the most. And it was Hiccup needing them. It was Hiccup needing her.

And she was right there for Hiccup.

"E-even if... it's something really stupid and that probably has no meaning atleasttoyou...? He asked after the inicial shock that soon faded away, his voice growing smaller and getting especially weaker and fast by the end of the question.

"Wha-? Oh. But there's the thing. Although it may be stupid for me it certainly isn't for you an-"

Hiccup sighed. "It's my... Hum... It's-my mom..."

"WHAT?"

"It's the anniversery of... mymom'sdeath..." Hiccup blurted out never facing Astrid. His eyes started getting watery-y again and his chest seemed to have a problem of some sort with the words he said faster. Then again, HE apparently did.

"Oh Hiccup... Why-" Astrid's started only to be interrupted by him again.

"Yeah yeah... I- I know" He mumbled, turning his back to her so she wouldn't see him cleaning his eyes with his hand. She seemed sort of surprised and the small, barely rememberable fact that she didn't even try to stop him from disapproaching her was remembered by Hiccup but as something not that good. "Stupid... She's been dead for 18 years or so... Why would I even..." He swallowed with difficulty again. Dam, even breathing was becoming hard with the shuddering of his chest. "Mourn over something like- like that...?"

It took Astrid a moment to find her voice. She was the one at the edge of tears now, and she barely cried. It's just that Hiccup was usually so happy and excited about something or even distracted or focused by... Viggo for example that she sometimes forgot how much weight he had on his shoulders. How much hurt he carried. Well, she didn't forget exactly, it was something that though was there also wasn't...

"Why... Why didn't you tell me?" She finally asked.

"Because you're not my mom... I don't have to bug you with my problems." He replied sadly (and of course a bit sarcastically- sarcasm, always his defense).

Now it all made sense. Why he had ran away from her. Why Stoick didn't appear that friendly. Because of the third Haddock.

Although there was just one thing she didn't understand...

"Stupid stupid stupidstupidstupidstupid..." Hiccup mumbled.

She couldn't exactly see his face but his shoulders were shaking. And it certainly wasn't from the cold.

She rose to her feet, hitting her head on Toothless's wings. Even though they were dome-like (he didn't close them completly giving the couple more space) it still was a tight place.

Her head popped outside near Toothless's chest and the dragon cooed at her. "I know... I'm trying." She whispered, patting his nose. "Stormfly could you-" She didn't have to finish for Stormfly instantly understood what she was about to ask and rising to her feet unrolled her wings to join them with Toothless's.

It made such a difference that she could now stand inside on her feet.

Astrid walked over to Hiccup and kneeled right in front of him. He looked at her for a brief second as if scared of what she would say. She however knew very well what he would say.

" 'm a runt... Tru- vikings don't... cry."

"Then good thing I don't like true vikings...I though we were over this." She said, cupping his face in her hands. "You dummy."

This time it was Hiccup launching himself forward into her arms. Tears were now more than many.

"But.. Bu- I nevah... Met'er... I did bu- don't remembah." Hiccup added, his voice muffled by her shirt. "And if... it wasn't fo' meh... she'd still be...be here..."

"You don't have to Blame yourself Hiccup, you had nothing to do with it. And you don't have to have met her to feel that. It's something that... That's there. The love of a mother. And just because she isn't around doesn't mean you can't love her. It doesn't mean you can't be confused about that either. As they always say: you always have a mother."

"Hmm they do?"

"Yeah, they do usually. At least mine does. But the point is, Hiccup, there is nothing to be ashamed of. I would never judge you. You didn't have to run away."

"Mhnn...You mad... Fo- for that?"

"I was yeah. You bet. I felt like cutting Snotlout and the twin's heads off..."

"Hmmm...That's... Normal."

"Fishlegs's too."

"Oh..."

"There's just one thing I don't understand." Astrid started. Hiccup stiffened. "How come I never knew about this? How don't I remember you doing all this the other years? At least disappearing?"

"Hmmm I Guess... On the Edge... Viggo and Ryker... Dragons to find... Distracted. Before well...hmmm... New friends... You and Dagur...Alvin- busy. More grown now... 'm more aware never see her."

"Are you even awake?" She laughed, feeling his weight on her incrising. She looked down and found his eyes closed, head that had lolled to the side landing on her shoulder and breathing steady and deep. Poor thing had fallen asleep.

She wiped his cheeks and kissed the top of his head.

"Love you too..." He muttered lowly before dosing off. Funny she though he was asleep.

"Dork..." She yawned and laughed at the same time, making it a weird sound.

Soon enough they were both asleep, Astrid's arms still around him tightly. When she eventually woke up Hiccup wasn't there, having left a blanket on top of her.

She found him near the Haddock's hugging Stoick in the dead of the night, probably having caught the Chief arriving home. Those three powerful words were there too.

...

 **That was it! I hope it was Good. I REALLY REALLY HOPE TO MAKE UP FOR BEING AWAY. If you want more of this or something different feel free to request of course. I'll start working on the next One-shot while I still have time today yayyy!**

 **Btw sorry for any errors I'm writing this on my phone and tablet to help even more Yeah**

 **See ya next time! XD**


	3. Over my dead body Part 1

**Yooooooo, hello!**

 **Took me long enough yeah I know, and this is *looks at title* WHAT DO YOU MEAN PART ONE? I THOUGH THIS HAD ONLY ONE-SHOTS! Well, right verb tense. This request got me hyped and wanting to develop it a lot, just like all the others gods you're all AMAZING I SERIOUSLY CAN'T TELL YOU HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU GUYS THANK YOU THANK YOU SO SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR LOVE AND SUPPORT! YOU ROCK!**

 **But anyway, before you tell me I tend to develop everything a lot- you have no idea how hard it is for me to write summaries and synthesis really- I gotta say that it might not be the only one. I got your requests and some of them need more developing than just hmmm... One... shot.**

 **(I'm ranting again am I not? Hehe oops) Alright, I'll start doing shout-outs from now on. You are all so amazing and have the trouble and take the time to review and request that I WANT to take time to thank you all too so-**

 **PLEASE READ THE SHOUTOUTS I NEED ANSWERS FOR SOME REQUESTS!**

 **SHOUT-OUTS!:**

 **Funtasticme : Thanks! I'm glad you liked it! I received your request and I'm already picturing things although I've got others too. Promise yours will be done too! Answering your question, I've never done one but yes! I'll do modern AUs too! Thanks for understanding the rules!**

 **FanWriter02 : Awww thank youuu! I'm really happy you though so! And a bit of humor is always good to lighten things XD even when it sometimes doesn't work out! By the way, I've checked you page (I'm curious hehe) and from what I've just read now you're an amazing writer I'll have to favourite you later. Also, i've realised we kinda have the same name for almost the same thing of one-shots so I'm sorry I had no idea I'll change this collection's name as soon as I think of something!**

 **Phieillydinyia : Ahh sorry buddie can't do. I hate myself too for that but a writer gotta mess with the reader's emotions you know *wink wink* hehe. Thank you so much for all your reviews not only here but on the other stories too! I might take a while to post but I'm aware of what's going on and all your comments mean a lot to me so THANK YOUU XD**

 **Nightfurylover1112 : XD *speechless too* was it that worthy? I was so uncertain about last chapter as always. Hope you're speechless in the good way ;) Thankii**

 **Guest : Awww thank you glad you found it sweet!**

 **Katurdi : I've already thanked you but it's never too much isn't it? *squeals too* Thank you for your review!**

 **Jonhathen (guest): Hmmm sounds interesting, I'm not very sure on what to write mainly because this is a Hiccup!Whump colletion so I'll have to add a bit of it please don't mind! I REALLY NEED TO KNOW IF YOU WANT THEM TO THINK OF YOUR OC (i suppose) IN A GOOD OR BAD WAY! AND PLEASE TELL ME WHAT'S A YIN YANG DRAGON? IS IT IT'S "pet name" or breed type, if so how does it look? can I imagine it? Thankssss**

 **Guest: That moment got me thinking too so thank you for challenging me with this! I'll be doing it ofc, but not here, I'll post it as a single story bc all the episodes what-if's or developing I won't mix with my own one-shots. Thank you for the request!**

 **RushAlias : Hmmm interesting, probably gonna be a two-shots not gonna lie. AND PLEASE TELL ME THIS: you said the rider was a lycanwing. Lycanwings are dragons not humans so you mean she can morph into one whenever she wants, she is a dragon all the time, is she a normal human but has a lycanwing OR is she a lycanwing and still has a dragon too? I get confused easily hehe oops. Please tell me. Thank you!**

 **harrypanther : Your review was also sweet to read. Thanks for leaving it too! XD**

 **Flopy (guest): Wat can I say?... THIS IS YOUR TIME TO SHINE ANd I'm sorry I'm taking so long... And that this is just the first part but there's a lot to develop *compulsive writing in long paragraphs strikes back* Anyway thanks for the request and I hope you like it, I hope it's kinda what you wanted. If it's too dark I'm sorry (exams mood hehe) and I felt you wanted some of this angst by your request. Tell me if it was too bad will ya? XD**

 **Guest: HEhe... *looks around weirdly* I'm weird too so what I write must be even more so. Glad you liked it though XD**

 **SilverGhostWolf777 : I know you didn't review here but you did on that one warning Ieft and so I'M NEVER GONNA LEAVE YOU'll HAVE TO BEAR WITH ME FOREVER MWAHAHAHA or at least if I ever leave I promise I'll warn. Leaving without warning is just bad. *exams' last wave starts again after next week* *swallows* I'm happy to be a bit more free *cough took 3 weeks i think to post cough* now too. Just leaving this here for I'll delete the warning. XD**

 **...**

 **Summary: After Hiccup and Toothless get in a fight, Hiccup is taken by dragon hunters. As he struggles to find his rider, Toothless regrets ever arguing with him. Hiccup too thinks about his own mistakes as his very time might be coming to an end.**

 **Set: between RTTE s2 and s3**

 **Requested: by guest (flopy)**

 **Rated: T (for mention of blood) hehe oops... I'm afraid, this will be kinda... Dark. I've warned you!**

 **Type: Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Friendship**

 **(Double portion on the hurt and angst though) Enjoy! If it's worth XD**

Toothless opened he's eyes. He slowly moved his tailfin to get a view of the room. His toxic green irises searched the darkness with the few pale light of the moon that entered through the window.

The prosthetic tailfin still sat there, on the wooden bed. The wooden bed that was supposed to have someting, or somebody else, on it for that matter.

He rolled on his side and closed his eyes again, covering his head with his own tailfin.

Sleeping washed away all the problems. He wanted to sleep.

But the truth was he couldn't. The events of about two hours ago were constantly biting him.

Toothless finally gave up and instead moved his head to look at the window of the hut. The full moon was beautiful but the freezing, cutting air of winter was definetly sadning. It made standing outside to stare a the moon uncomfortable.

Not that he was much affected. No. He was a dragon. He had scales, cold blood and a personal plasma storage inside. But for humans with skin and warm blood like Hiccup...

...Hiccup...

He looked at the ground near the stairs, guilt feeling his being as he stared at the broken toy left there in the darkness.

No. He wasn't the one supposed to feel guilt. Hiccup was. He was the one obsessing with Viggo. He was the one to blaim. All Toothless did was because of that.

But then again, was it really?

Toothless hadn't flown for days. Days. The riders hadn't had any missions for days therefore Toothless hadn't flown for days. Not even at the sunset just like he LOVED so much.

But no. Hiccup was OBSESSESED with Viggo. Toothless was always the first one supporting him for everything but the boy was tormenting himself with it. He was constantly talking about how they had to be prepared for any possible attacks. He was constantly thinking of new schemes himself. Thinking of what possible schemes Viggo was thinking of.

So he kind of forgot to fly with Toothless. And while that Toothless had to make sure Hiccup ate, slept and got his head out of paper and thoughs for a while. Which obviously never worked.

It was annoying. He was so focused on preventing a next move of the enemy that he forgot to listen to his best friend and other friends.

Astrid had tried her luck as well, and even Fishlegs but whatever they said went through one of Hiccup's ears and left through the other.

So on that faithful end of day (ironic huh?) Toothless snapped. Hiccup'd been gone all day having woken up earlier to work whatever out. Toothless waited all day on their hut being left behind. Refusing to go out and meet him as he'd do any other time.

And when Hiccup returned the dragon'd grabbed the very first thing of Hiccup he'd seen, which so happened to be a dragon looking toy-

-and he snapped it in two just as Hiccup appeared from the staircase. He couldn't use words so in that tantrum of his, he had to make it look like he was mad. REALLY MAD. It'd been one of those moments where you don't think, just do without knowing why.

Hiccup'd fallen to his knees and craddled the broken toy in his hands much for Toothless' confusion. Of course it was something of his but he didn't have to be so dramatic. Then again, Hiccup was always dramatic.

They'd argued, quarreld, and Toothless got even madder for a dumb motive, he had to admit it. Because while he understood what Hiccup said, he was aware that, for as much as Hiccup actually had this thing- this talent to understand him in general, he couldn't understand what Toothless said.

Not pretty things had been said and "roared". They were barely making sense but all the stress and tension from the last couple of weeks had probably been released there.

And there was as much stress as things Toothless regreted saying and doing then.

So when Toothless started hitting his prosthetic tailfin on the ground, showing the "I don't need you!" Hiccup had widened his eyes, narrowed them and angrily walked towards his desk. The Haddock grabbed the automatic tailfin from a box under it and, dropping it on his own bed, stormed off with a "GOOD THING YOU DON'T THEN!".

It had been two hours and something ago. And Toothless never though Hiccup could be this proud. Proud to the point of staying out in this cold night because of it.

But why was he worrying after all?! It wasn't like he needed Hiccup! He'd gone through the past couple weeks without flying with him! He'd lived his whole life without him until 4 years ago.

And he wasn't worrying. He was wondering where the human was. Needing him or not, Toothless'd learned that humans were good. Most of them at least... And Hiccup was a human therefore he wasn't worrying. He was making sure a human was safe.

Because he didn't need Hiccup.

He didn't need Hiccup to live.

He could very well live without Hiccup...

But out in the freezing night... Hiccup might not be able to live without Toothless!

He stood up in a rush and jumped out of the window into the cutting night air. All the huts were silent. The night was deadly silent. He ran around the huts, from the Dome to the Clubhouse even to the twins' bourpit. No sign, no smell. No Hiccup...

The forest! It was big and especially dark by now but Toothless had his sonar, it wouldn't be a problem.

And so he used his plasma waves to prevent any accident with trees because of the darkness. His heartrate increased. Hiccup had to walk to wherever he was on the forest. For a human it took more time than for a dragon. And it was already kind of dark when he stormed off the house.

What if he'd fallen on some cliff? And there were wild beasts, wolves at the loose. Those came out at night. What if-?

No. He wasn't worrying. He was just checking. He didn't need Hiccup. That proud, one leg-less Viking. There was no one as proud and stubborn as him!

"Except maybe myself... " He though, his own mind betraying him.

Suddenly, his plasma waves caught something besides trees and rocks and bushes. It was a clearing, with less trees than the rest of the forest obviously, but there was something in its middle.

And Toothless' dragon jaw almost fell when he saw who it was.

Hiccup.

He shouldn't be that surprised though. He was looking for him after all. What really shocked him was how he found his rider.

Hiccup was on his knees, head hanging down with his messy hair and bangs covering his face. He was shaking terribly as he wiped his eyes, and Toothless knew how he shouldn't be out in this cold.

Wait, he wiped his eyes? He was doing the spilling of water from the eyes that the humans often called crying!

Hiccup was crying!

He slowly stepped forward, afraid of Hiccup's reaction. The grass puffed! puffed! under his paws and it was blatantly obvious Hiccup knew he was there already.

Toothless swallowed his pride. He was just checking on a human. He lowered his head to be able to see the boy's face. His green eyes were completly watery, so were his cheeks and chin. His hands scrapped at his knees, his nails digging in the cloth of his pants.

Toothless bolted his head. He could hear these hiccups... Sobs. Hiccup was sobbing.

Toothless tried to be mad at him, (which he still was deep down) but his heart broke when the sobs turned to full-voiced cries. And they grew worse when Hiccup finally looked back at him, which made Toothless step away from the Haddock in utter confusion.

Should he...? No. But...

He stared at the boy whom he'd seen grow so much. He'd never seen him like this though. As they grew up, Toothless was aware that humans often got more complicated yet he never though he'd see Hiccup like this.

And to think it was his fault... He should appologise and take care of his rider.

But the boy was wrong too and... No. Hiccup was mad at him, he wouldn't want Toothless back. That would be the most probable reaction.

And why was he crying so much after all?

Hiccup raised his head, his bangs falling on his face again but it was enough for Toothless's keen eyes to catch a glimpse of his rider's ones.

Hiccup looked ready to collapse. Dark circles around his eyes for not having had the proper sleep, shaky limbs, and that pained expression that made Toothless wonder if he was hurt somewhere.

His face had a more than sorrowful expression as he kept crying, unsuccessfully trying to hold it back. His chest shuddered as if warning it was about to blow up.

Then the emerald green eyes widened and a gasp escaped the pouting lips. Hiccup tried looking at the side of his neck and as he did Toothless roared.

A dart looking to belong to the dragon hunters was sticking out of Hiccup's neck. Hiccup tried to yank it out but his hand failed miserably, having caught air instead of the dart.

Dizziness filled his head and darkness filled his vision. He noticed Toothless' ear pads raising and the dragon unsheeting his teeth at the sound of quick, heavy footsteps approaching.

And Hiccup could hear them too, even with his hearing failing. There were too many Dragon Hunters. It must've been a scout and they would catch Toothless too if the dragon didn't run away NOW. Toothless looked ready to fight but just as the dragon started running to his side, Hiccup stopped him.

"No! Go away Toothless!" He tried but the stubborn dragon kept approaching him- just like the Hunters. " No! You have to go! Get out of here!"

Maybe... If he showed he was angry it would make Toothless save himself. Because even mad at each other he knew Toothless way too well to know he'd never leave him alone in a time like this. Still it was their only chance.

He forced his tears to come to a stop and an angrier tone to rule his voice. "GO! GO AWAY TOOTHLESS NOW! YOU HEAR ME?!" Toothless stared at him in shock. Of course he knew Hiccup would be mad but... to the point of not letting him help him...

Ohh he knew what he was doing and it wasn't working on Toothless. That sly, stupid selfless viking...

Voices were now audible enough but Toothless didn't run away. He wasn't letting them take Hiccup. No way.

Hiccup fell onto his side, he was more unconscious than aware of the world by now. AND TOOTHLESS WOULD BE CAUGHT AS WELL! "Toothless.. go... can't have us both...Gang... GO!"

Toothless looked at Hiccup who'd finally let his eyes close. Maybe he was right... Maybe there were too many to fight by himself and... Without being able to fly even more so. He had to get to the other riders for as much as it would cost him leaving Hiccup.

Toothless warbled running away as fast as he could. He looked behind just in time to see men filling all the clearing and hastily grabbing his unconscious rider.

One of them noticed him and when Toothless realised his back leg exploded with pain. He looked at it to find a dart just like Hiccup's which made him wonder why they weren't using those dragon root arrows.

He quickly ckeared his mind. He had to get to the others. If he didn't the Hunters would catch him and it would be the curtains for Hiccup most likely.

His vision darkened but he kept running. Off balance but running nonetheless. And soon enough he stopped. He stopped running right at the base, his body finally surrending to the effect of the dart.

And Toothless's world vanished right in front of what looked like the twins' hut.

Toothless felt weird. Weirdly weird.

He felt... numb, per say. His hearing seemed to be coming back just like all his other senses. It was the awful feeling of coming back from unconsciousness. He hated it!

"...where could he be Fishlegs?! He's been gone for two days. And Toothless! I've never seen a dart last this long. He's been sleeping for two days, it's ridiculous!" A feminine voice echoed on his sleepy ear channels.

"Oh oh, I know... I hope he's fine... And Hiccup! He must've been taken! But where to?!" Fishlegs's nervous voice joined in too.

"Well, I guess this is a case for... Come on, you know who!" Ruffnut shouted.

"If you say Thorston and Thorston or something to do with you two muttonheads investigating I swear I'll tell Hookfang to EAT YOU BOTH ALIVE!" Snotlout complained.

"Thorston and Thorston or something to do with us investigating." Tuffnut quickly said, as if trying Snotlout to see if he could get Hookfang to do so. "And I nominate Ruffnut to go first hehe!"

"Hey! I nominated you second so you go first!" She protested.

Snotlout stayed silent for a moment before a long sight was heard. "Nevermind. Hookfang just eat ME alive please."

"GUYS SHUT IT! Toothless is waking up!" Astrid ordered making everyone go silent much for Toothless's pleasantness (and Hookfang's unpleasantness. He was already positioning his large open mouth around Snotlout ready to "serve his rider's demands").

Toothless silently thanked Astrid, he'd rather go back to sleep then waking up to that noise.

He blinked his eyes, finally clearing his sight. The riders were all displayed in a half moon, staring down at him.

"Toothless, thank thor. You got us worried here buddy. How are you feeling?" She said, petting his scaly head.

Hmmm... Funny Astrid...Hiccup calls me buddy too.

OH NO! Hiccup! HICCUP!- Toothless cursed.

He jumped from his place in the stables, running back and forth, left and right. He felt lightheaded enough to run a mile on the same spot.

"Whoa, whoa easy!" Astrid tried.

"What's with him?" Snotlout asked.

"What do you think? I'd say it had to do with Hiccup what else could it be?!" Fishlegs tried.

Astrid stepped forward, bringing her hands to secure Toothless' head. "Hey boy, we'll get to Hiccup okay? Just calm down."

Toothless eventually stopped freaking out to listen to her. That got his attention. "Hiccup?! You know something of Hiccup? Did you stop the smokering sons of smoke breaths from taking him?! " He though although deep down he wasn't thinking at all.

"There, see." Astrid sighed, rubbing her hand on his nose in circles to help him relax. "It wasn't so hard now was it?"

Toothless warbled. Then his mind wandered back to the rider's conversation of a couple minutes ago. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN TWO DAYS AGO?! HE'S BEEN TAKEN TWO DAYS AGO AND YOU IDIOTS DID NOTHING?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN I SLEPT TWO DAYS?! HAS HICCUP BEEN SLEEPING FOR TWO DAYS TOO? WHAT IN-"

Aaaaand he was frantic again. Jumping around the riders and almost knocking them down.

"Or maybe it was." Snotlout snorted making Astrid bless him with a death glare.

Toothless bumped the girl from behind, cooing sorrowfuly and using his gums to bite her shirt and so pull her outside.

"I think he's trying to tell us something guys!" She announced, mounting the Night Fury. "Get your dragons! Stormfly follow!" Then she lowered her head near Toothless's ear pads and whispered. "Take us to Hiccup boy."

Toothless and all the other dragons unfolded their wings.

Hiccup had no idea of what was going on. All he knew was that it was cold, very cold, cold to the point of teeth chattering.

And that he had a pain in the neck. A stupidly uncomfortable pain in the neck.

His senses were numb, clouded. He felt extremely off. And while he was aware of all this he still felt like a Thunderdrum had roared directly at him, leaving him dizzy, deaf and uncapable of processing a single thing.

He blinked his eyes open only to jump in surprise as more darkness welcomed him. He couldn't see a thing in there. Where was he? What happened? There should be some window or source of light somewhere!

He tried to stand up but just as he rushed forward, something pulled him back. He gasped as his body was hastily jolted back, knocked against the same cold rock wall he'd woken up supported on.

He grunted, waving his hands about helplessly as he tried to understand what was going on. The distint sound of chains gave it up to him. And now he was starting to realise how tight the chackles were, worthy of cutting his circulation.

He tried raising his good foot too but was once again "blessed" with the strong grip of metal around his ankle that certainly wouldn't let him go anywhere so soon.

He groaned. "Greaaat..."

His thoughs wandered back to moments before he woke up in there...wherever...place...

He remembered being on the forest back at the Edge. He and...Toothless had a fight and...

Hiccup gulped. This was definitely NOT the time to cry. Not there, not then. He had to do something if he ever wanted to do something about Toothless. He had to get out of there.

Because he couldn't leave Toothless. He had to let the Night Fury know he was sorry a-

-TOOTHLESS WAS WRONG TOO! HICCUP WASN'T THE STUBBORN ONE ACTING CHILDISHLY!

Or was he?... His own mind betrayed him.

...Maybe he was... But certainly not the only one!

They just never really argued. And to argue this bad...

He hiccuped, feeling utterly confused. He felt like it was all his fault. It was his fault that his dragon hated him. It was his fault that his dragon though Hiccup hated him! But at the same time... His stupid pride wouldn't let him fully accept that feeling, instead confusing him even more by making him feel that Toothless shouldn't have acted like he did either.

He remembered the small stuffed dragon. His small, precious stuffed dragon that now was broken. He didn't mean to get that out of control, but to see one of the most precious things he had broken. It was the only thing he had from his mother.

His eyes felt watery but he instantly cleaned them. He was going to escape from Thor knows where and for that, he couldn't cry. He couldn't let his feelings overtake him. He had to bury it all deep down once again. Because right now Toothless wasn't there and he was going to have to break free without him. For him. They had things to sort out. Things he wouldn't want to leave that way.

He squinted his eyes, letting them adjust to the darkness.

First things first. What was he counting with? He tried going back to the last things he remembered. He should've guessed: the Dragon Hunters of course.

"Perfect..." He muttered to no one. It had to be the hunters. Not that being kidnapped by someone else would be pleasant either... He just didn't feel like facing Viggo at the moment. He wanted to go back to Toothless. And also, now that the moment he had been preparing himself for the past weeks had arrived, he just didn't feel ready for it. Because Viggo was always one step ahead.

Now that he could faintly make out the outlines of the walls he realised why it was so dark in there. Well, it must've been night but besides that, there was a single door in one of the 4 walls caging him. A single wooden, heavy-locked, heavy door with a window like square that could be opened from the outside. Probably to check on the prisioner... Which just so happened to be him. Amazing.

He was about to try and start ploting an escape- starting by those Thor damned tight chackles when the sound of metal scraping against metal was heard. He squeezed his eyes almost shut to see the window compartiment shake and barely had time to think before it slid to the side revealing a pair of brown eyes.

The guard seemed to smile when he realised Hiccup was staring right back at him. Should Hiccup be worried about that?

Probably. Yes.

"Ah ye're 'wake. Though ya never would." His hoarse, muffled voice muttered as he apparently started unlocking the rusty door.

The door swang open with a heavy kick from the also heavy man. He stood on the entrance with his hands on his hips for a moment, staring back at Hiccup as if deciding on which of the chains he would be starting by.

Hiccup could barely mantain his eyes open. The light of a pale, burning candle coming from outside was enough to blind him and make his eyes ache. Now that he had gotten used to the dark!

The Hunter stepped forward and started unlocking Hiccup's wrist chains from the wall. He laughed maniacally as if he knew something Hiccup didn't.

Should he worry? Yes. Definitely yes.

"Should I know something?" Hiccup asked, watching as the chains fell from the wall and as the man started doing the same to the one securing his right foot.

"Ya will... Eventually." Was what he got back. Which didn't reassure him at all.

"It's Viggo. Isn't it? You're taking me to him." Hiccup tried as the man hastily pushed him up, holding his arm in such a tight grip Hiccup was sure it would be bruised later.

The man just laughed... Again. "Ya wish."

Now that could not be good.

The big Hunter dragged Hiccup by the arm through the stone cold corridors. They're breaths came out as vapor because of the chilling air. It made one shiver although Hiccup was sure the guard wasn't that bothered with it... Not with those fur vests anyway.

In a faint second Hiccup realised he was missing something. He stopped suddenly which made the man slow down as Hiccup spoke. "My armor's broken! There's a shoulder pad missing!"

The hunter squeezed Hiccup' arm even tighter and pulled him forward returning to the same fast pace. Hiccup gasped. "You don't understand! Tha-" He tried stopping to look around but the hunter kept pulling him.

"Ye won't be needin' armor where ye're goin' kid. Now walk fast!"

Hiccup lowered his head. He wouldn't make it out of this man's grasp anyway. Dragon Hunters were usually big and muscular but this one was especially strong. He wouldn't stand a chance.

He really didn't care about his shoulder pad in general or the fact that his armor was broken because of it having been yanked out of the leather. What he cared about was the Night Fury drawing on it. It had to be the one with the Night Fury on it!

Toothless... He probably hated Hiccup right now...

No! Hiccup didn't need him! Toothless didn't need Hiccup. They didn't need each other!- He tried thinking. However it was basically useless to deny it:

Hiccup was scared. And he would give almost anything to be with his best friend, where he felt truly safe.

"Faster!" The man ordered, interrupting his thoughs. "Can't you walk any faster?"

Hiccup threw him a judging look. "Hey you know I only have one leg right? Besides it would be easier to walk if I didn't have to drag these chains through the floor!"

"I know wha' ya're doin'. They told me ya'ad a way of 'scaping."

"Of course they did..." Hiccup rolled his eyes. "I bet they were also the ones who built these never ending tunnels! Have you even wondered how much we've walked already? You should sit and thake a rest, make yourself comfy. You look tired." He loved annoying bad guys.

The man stopped suddenly. "Ye're a headache." He groaned before knocking on a door and opening it.

Hiccup smiled smugly. "Why thank yo-" He was cut off when the big, bulky man threw him inside making Hiccup stumble forward and fall towards the ground face first. The door was closed as he fell.

However he never hit the ground for a very ungentle grip took hold of his shoulder and neck. The big, strong hands hurting his skin and muscle.

As he was almost hovered in the air Hiccup looked up, sighning instantly.

"Oh..." He groaned with a very disappointed tone. "...You..."

The loud voice laughed. "Me."

Hiccup groaned for the utmost time that day before Ryker pushed him forward. The man threw him onto a chair in the middle of the room. The surroundings were complete darkness and so all Hiccup could see was the circle of light a dying candle on the wall provided to the area they both were in.

"Eh..." He mumbled as Ryker started locking his chains back on the ground under his chair.

"Problem?" The bald Hunter asked angrily... As always.

Hiccup twisted his nose. "Mhmmm na-ahh..." He mumbled as Ryker gave a hard push on the chains. "...Okay yes... Have you ever though about redecorating this place? It lacks some shine and... that dark corner over there doesn't fit very well..." He pointed out with his chin. "...Scratch that just demolish it all."

Ryker was by now standing in from of him, rolling his eyes. "Ye're a headache..." He muttered, unsheeting his sword from his back.

Hiccup eyed the weapon carefully. "And you guys Hunters tend to all be very alike. Same bad socializing skills, same sayings-" He was cut off when Ryker grabbed a handful of his hair and pulling his head back by it approached his face to Hiccup's. The boy gasped, trying not to show weakness.

Hiccup swallowed. "Same bad breath-"

Ryker clenched his teeth. "Eneugh talkin'. Ya haven't been 'ere for two minutes and ye're already crossin' the line."

Hiccup looked around. "Hmm... What li-"

Ryker didn't let him finish. "Here's how things're gonna go. Ya 'ave two options. My little brother doesn't need'ya but he'd sure love to get a hold on ya boy. Ya have precious information on that brain of yours. If ya colaborate I'll take it easy on ya and Viggo will know I've got' ya. Meanin' he won't let me hurt ya. And it also means that since he doesn't need ya I can get my 'ands on ya scrawny, annoying throat like I've been wanting to for a long time now." He smiled maniacally. "If ya don't open ya mouth, I'll make sure ya regret it. Ya'll give me a lot of profit. People pay good to see a Dragon Rider being..." He passed his sword by his own throat, finishing the sentence.

Hiccup looked at him, unimpressed. "Viggo needs the Snow Wraith key to unlock the Dragon Eye. And he knows the easiest way to get it is by using us. I know that Rykey. Sooooo..." you can't kill me. He though.

Ryker laughed... For a good while actually. Why was it that everyone always seemed to know something he didn't?

"First question boy. How's it gonna be?" He hissed.

Hiccup closed his once opened mouth shut, defying the Grimborn. I won't tell you a word, he promised.

"Very well then." Ryker said before bringing down his sword.

...

Toothless growled in pain as they landed.

Astrid dismounted from his back and looked him over. "What is it boy? Your leg hurts?" She asked, walking towards the back leg that had been shot with the sleeping dart.

Toothless shooed her away by running forward, towards the nearby clearing.

"What was that all about?" Snotlout asked from behind her.

"Yeah looks like T's not doing good." Ruffnut commented.

Astrid sighed. She could tell something was wrong. Toothless just didn't act like this for no reason. She wished she could understand him perfectly but truth was, for as much as their relationship had developed all over the years, no one knew Toothless as much as Hiccup. No one could understand Toothless like Hiccup did. And the other way around too.

"Is he injured somewhere else?" Fishlegs asked.

"I don't know..." She mumbled, watching as Toothless froze by the entrance of a clearing a few feet away from them. " But something's not right. And it must involve Hiccup." She swallowed a whimper. Where was he? His absence was driving her insanely worried. She knew he was in trouble.

And Toothless even more than her.

She mounted Stormfly who'd bumped her from behind, interrupting her line of dragons and riders walked forward until they were side by side with the Night Fury. Sensing this, the black dragon jumped in the clearing , starting to sniff about the place frantically. When the other dragons didn't move to help he narrowed his eyes and with an ear piercing screetch his scaly companions had started doing the same after throwing their riders to the side.

"HEY HOOKFANG COME BACK HERE!" Snotlout complained, offended by being thrown onto the grass.

Hookfang looked at the boy with a submissive look before steeling a frightned one at the mad Night Fury. With not much thinking to do, he turned back to helping the other dragons, his back turned to Snotlout. Wise choice. One didn't just simply disobey the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself at a time like this. Especially at a time like this.

"Hum... Who would know... Hiccup is Toothless's spirit animal." Tuffnut muttered.

Everybody looked at him with a confused and somewhat weirded out look on their faces but the Thorston didn't even realise that.

"What even is happening? Hookfang just doesn't desobey me!" Snotlout exclaimed, getting to his feet just like everyone else. Laughs followed in, the twins falling back onto the grass holding their bellies.

Astrid and Fishlegs sighed. However, before anyone could say anything Stormfly, being the Tracker class dragon she was, chirped in excitement.

"That's my girl!" Astrid celebrated, running forward towards Stormfly. She rubbed the dragon's scaly snout earning gleeful chirps back from the Nadder. "What is it girl? You caught Hiccup's scent?!"

Toothless lept forward, with just as much expectation as her. If she caught Hiccup's scent they could go and rescue him!

Stormfly chirped and jumped about a bush. "Hmmm...Here?" Astrid asked absentmindedly as she looked all over the area for something. She was about to give up and assume Stormfly had actually found a trail of scent when her long, thin fingers scraped something. She pulled it out and almost had her heart dive out of her throat onto the ground when she saw what it was. "Oh...Hiccup..."

Toothless's once slit irises turned into lage black dots as he pressed his snout longingly against Astrid's hands. No. More like against Hiccup's shoulder pad.

The thing was broken, having been obviously yanked out of the boy's armor. Unintentionally or not Astrid didn't know, although it probably had been an accident. If she was to kidnap someone, she certainly wouldn't leave any evidences. Toothless whined.

"Oh Thor... OH Thor..." Fishlegs cried from behind the two dragons and the girl. They already knew something was off but it was official now.

Astrid's worried blue eyes met Toothless's toxic, unreadable ones.

Toothless stared back at her. They had to find Hiccup. His rider. His best friend. His little Hiccup. HIS LITTLE HUMAN. He'd never forgive himself if something happened to him which a strong feeling told Toothless it currently was. His heart shattered. It was like he could almost as hear Hiccup's misery. No one knew the Haddock like he did. And the fact that the Hunters didn't use the same method for this capture like before got him even more worried. Thor knew what they were planning on doing. Thor knew what they were doing to Hiccup at the moment.

They almost had a bond.

And it was Toothless's fault Hiccup was gone in the first place. He no longer cared if the boy was wrong or right, if he was wrong or right. ALL he wanted was to have his buddy back. Back to where he belonged, to where he was safe -and to where he made Toothless himself feel safe.

He would never live with himself if Hiccup didn't make it out of this one. He never would have on any other time. He couldn't. He just wouldn't. He didn't want to live without Hiccup. And this time was even worse if it the feelings in the situations could differ. It'd been his fault this time.

He noticed Astrid's twinkling, somewhat watery eyes shine in the darkness of the now late night. She didn't understand him like Hiccup did but they got along almost just as good. She didn't need to understand him that well either to realise that this time was a different time. This capture was surely different. There was something really fishy about it. And she also noticed how Toothless' s behaviour seemed different- even if just a little- about Hiccup.

"We're going to find him. Bring him home." She replied, nodding her head. "I promise."

Toothless lowered his head, thinking.

And even if you don't... I will.

...

Hiccup blinked rapidly, his vision worse than Breackneck Bog.

Then he wished he didn't actually...Wake up? Yes, he had apparently just woken up. His entire body ached, burning violetly on his etire torso. As soon as his vision cleared he understood why. His whole armor was stained with blood. Ew... His blood. He could feel it flowing and it was obvious there were several deep, open wounds all over him. Very unhealthy, probably... deadly wounds...

He looked around him and saw the outlines of the very same cell he remembered having woken up in before. Gods...How long ago had it been?

Pain blinded him for a moment as he tried to move. His hands were once again restrained by the chackles around his wrists. The dam tight chackles. The same happening to his right ankle. He could've sworn that Ryker had just ordered that one Hunter to escort him back to his cell... He must've passed out on the way back.

Breathing was beginning to get extremly hard, not only for the cutting cold, humid and yet dusty air of that small confined space but for the fire coming from his side.

"G-great..." He groaned, touching his armor and feeling the definitly broken ribs. Thor... They shouldn't be this protruding...

But, of course and as always, that was the least of his problems. Hiccup could feel his eyelids closing, his vision darkning. He felt an indescribable stinging right about his stomach. Stinging as in stabbing, white-hot sword slashing inside him there. He almost threw up when he looked at it.

Hiccup would've gasped if 1) all he could do wasn't shivering terribly and 2) his throat wasn't all dry and scraped from screaming. Ryker had really gone far this time. Who knew he'd keep his promise on causing damage? Viggo really didn't seem to know about Hiccup then. Or maybe he did and...just didn't care.

His shaking hands hovered above the sword wound. Gods... It hurt so much...

...it was so deep...

...he could feel himself bleeding out through there...

He tried ripping a piece of his own cloth out to try and control the blood lost but all his shaking, weak hands could accomplish was grabbing the hem of his tunic and almost as pet it when his long, thin fingers slid through the cloth, strenghtless even to rip something as simple as that.

He let his head fall back against the wall, his closed fists stuck against the bloody wound applying as much pressure as he could. Oh gods everything was full of that liquid. There was so much of it.

And it was so cold. Freezing cold. He pulled his legs up to try and gather some heat though it didn't work that much. All it did was making him scream thanks to the sudden jolt on his fists pressed against the wound.

He didn't want to think about internal damage either. Oh and the blood loss...

The impossible pain... He just wanted it to be over. He just wanted to disappear and not having to deal with it. Then, what if he couldn't bear it? Hiccup's barely open eyes shone in fear.

Fear of never waking up again if he fell asleep. Fear of what was yet to come. Fear of waking up and having to put up with Ryker and his interrogations again. What a pain he was! But mostly fear of never seeing Toothless and the other riders again, Astrid, his father, Gobber, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Snotlout, the dragons, his village...

"Too-th-too-less" He shivered. But mostly fear of dying and leaving Toothless, especially like he did. Thinking Hiccup hated him. And the possibility was high, it was more of a certainty by then actually. He'd either die from the blood loss, the cold, or whatever there was waiting for him the next day.

And Hiccup didn't want to die mad at his best friend.

...

 **Wow this... is a heavy environment... Ugh... WOW *falls through the floor because of the tension in the air***

 **I've warned! PURE ANGST AND HURT AND THINGS ARE STILL GONNA GET DEEP GET DOWN (pun XD) I'm feeling so bad! My poor babies!**

 ***Sobs* So I hope you requester (humm... Nice term ha... I know it's not.) liked this part and I tried to take in all you asked for. The rest of you guys too, I seriously hope you liked it! *Swims in water pit of tears* (pun intended, let's see how many of you understand it hehe XD) I DON'T KNOW HOW TO MAKE HICCUP AND TOOTHY MAD AT EACH OTHER? THIS WAS THE BEST EXCUSE I COULD THINK OF please don't judge me XD**

 **Once again, there has been a lot going one (guess who's the lucky girl to put braces for the second time hum? Yep, I'm the one *sighs*) and my exams are SO MANY IMMA CRY! Also this one (the most important ofc) didn't go very well (pray for me plsss) and I'm focusing even more on the next ones to make up for it. That failure has been driving me anxious... I'll update as soon as i can but in the next weeks I'll have the worst ones and the biggest amount of work ever and if I was busy before then...**

 **But enough of talking about it. I HOPE YOU LIKE THIS ANGST MESS BECAUSE HEY IT'S WHAT I WRITE BEST weird I know but I actually like it especially for Hiccup since (...*throwback to Astrid's misadventures*)... I'm so done with always seeing her in all the worry's centre and I've seen a lot of ppl agreeing and complaining about it. LET'S GET OUR HOPES UP FOR S5!**

 **I better go now before you go grab the pitch forks hehe... I'm so done am I not? I'll promise I'll be worse next chapter...oops my mouth slipped...**

 **Au revoir mes hermanos and hermanas XD! *vanishes in cloud of smoke while choking on it***


	4. Over my dead body Part 2

***smoke bomb***

 **Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii! *coughs* It's me…. Alive…. Thank thor… which if I wasn't would turn this author's note into a very very odd one…**

 **Soooooooooooo, I'm finally here, and have a feeling y'all are mad at me, so pls forgive my idiotic self for taking so long, I've already explained why on the Shadowgrip's effect new chapter, and I'm terribly sorry I suck as a human but besides all that, my life just like many others isn't really easy but I won't complain.**

 **THE SHADOWGRIP'S EFFECT BY THE WAY IS FLYING POINT WITH ANOTHER NAME AND A RECENT CHAPTER! Just leaving this here.**

 **Anywayyyyyy, I wanna apologise for everything and so here's this GiAnt oF A CHapTEr?! Guys, I opened Word and it gave me 35 pages with letter size 12 and no notes? Idk how it looks like on Fanfiction, but I bet it's really looooooooooooong.**

 **A special apology for you requester, I'm sorry for taking so long to post the second part…. (Please forgive meeeeeeeeeeee)**

 **So here's your ANGST FULL TOOTHCUP FEELS BOMB I HONESTLY CRIED WRITING THIS I SHED A TEAR**

 **But shout-outs firstttttt!**

 **Flopy (guest): OMG I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKED IT! Oh gods, no I'm not but thank you so much, I wouldn't have written this without you amazing, loveable Valhalian! I'm pretty sure that word doesn't exist but oh well, who cares. You… you honestly made me cry with your kind words, and I feel so bad for taking so long…. I'm horrible…. I'm so grateful for your review, it just made my year honestly, you made me blush and I can't blush my cheeks are pale and don't work! OW now I don't want you to read it, it's horrible and bloody and sad and just pure angst and PLEASE DON'T CRY! You telling me all that and I make this… Nonetheless, thank you, it was a pleasure to write this and I hope you love it but understand if it's too oc or too much… *blushes* Enjoy! XD**

 **Stripesicles222: Poor Hiccup, I know right? I'm so bad to him, the boy has suffered enough already- (or maybe not hehe). It was rather interesting to write from Toothless' point of view I have to say, I needed to imagine how being an overprotective dragon was like, their words, their understanding of the human world is certainly different. It was funny, I'm not a dragon obviously, but Toothless is an amazing character and we should really see more of him and Hiccup in rtte if the two are going separate ways in httyd3. No Astrid shouldn't you right, she's a warrior and stuff like that happens but I feel like the directors have some sort of pleasure seeing her down and in the middle of the worry instead of developing her character in other aspects. The girl can't hold herself to that saddle! Snotlout, the twins, hiccup I'm honestly hoping to see them hurt in this next season for a change. I would pay good money for a season where Astrid never got hurt nor fell off Stormfly, but instead: the twins worried over each other because one got hurt, Snotlout too (hehehe *claps hands* SnotloutxHiccup cousin bonding) and Hiccstrid where for once, Astrid takes care of the boy and worries for him for a change… It's getting annoying and I'm sorry for blurting it all out here. Ahhh, thank you, they passed a long time now but are about to start again aff. It went good except for one meh, just the most important of course. THE BRACES ARE OUT FOR GOOD HELL YEAH. Thank you for reviewing! XD**

 **Harrypanther: Are you sure…? Hehehe, or can he? *wink wink* Ahh, angst and guilt, have plenty to give and sell, all my stories consist of it basically. Yeah, you're right, but I gotta admit, I was kinda lost there like: Ok, the boat is a slow ass and they got dragons…. But I need the boat to get to the island before they find him hmmmm… Well, lets put Toothless sleeping for two days and the gang watching him 24/7 it'll probably work. XD Hiccup is that alright, but he also is Mr Kidnapped-by-the-enemy-and-look-he-got-away-alright-again-what-a-talent. The guy was made to be kidnapped, escape, repeat. Ahh the exams went good all but the most important one *sigh* go me! But thank you for that and for reviewing! Hope you like this part as well, *cough* it has more angst and guilt.**

 **Johnathen: Copy that! Uhhhh, dragon design you say? I love making up new dragons! They can have any power or ability and appearance, it's so fun. Sorry it's taking so long, I like to plan and design it besides writing and living. Thank you for answering quickly!**

 **Phieillydinyia: You're so very welcome! Thank you for your review! Hiccup's precious and I'm being mean to him I know I'm sorry XD OHHHHHHH YOU DID NOT! I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE OMG. Look look! You made that pun haha love it! Will there be another chapter? It's here! Do I hope you like it? ABSOLUTLY!**

 **RushAlias: Wow, thank you, I wasn't so sure. Sometimes when I write it sounds bad XD Characters on point?! Fuuu, they can turn a bit oc some times, but I'm glad you didn't find it so! Thank you for your review! XD**

 **FanWriter02: OH MY GOSH IT'S HERE IT'S HERE DON'T WORRY PLEASE DON'T DIE! XD A-A- aww-AWW thank you! I got butterflies on my tummy now XD That means a lot to me thank you so muchhhhhhh! Yes I read your stories and I admire your writing style so much too, it's so cute, simple… I… can't describe but I love it and you saying all that just…*blushes* I'm honored, thank you!**

 **Just wanted to say I really love you all guys, seriously, you're amazing, reviewing or not, "favouriting" or not, following or not… I just, feel blessed for having you all reading my stories, so many views from so many places and… I'm emotional now great. I don't deserve you AMAZING PEOPLE YOU ROCK!"**

 **It's angsty but enjoy! XD**

 **Summary: After Hiccup and Toothless get in a fight, Hiccup is taken by Dragon Hunters. As he struggles to find his rider, Toothless regrets ever arguing with him. Hiccup too thinks about his own mistakes as his very time might be coming to an end.**

 **Set: between RTTE s2 and s3**

 **Requested by: Flopy** **(** **guest)**

 **Rated: T+ (for direct mention of blood and torture)**

 **Type: Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Angst**

 **WARNING: You might cry and some parts might shock the most sensible ones.**

 **(This is not a bloodbath, but just to make sure :D There.)**

Toothless wasn't going to sit down and sleep soundly, waiting until the next day to do something.

Oh no he wasn't! Never would he rest while his buddy was probably suffering. He wouldn't close an eye while Hiccup wasn't safe. Because something told him something terrible had or was to happen.

…If it wasn't happening at the moment...

Now...all he had to do was figure how to remove that one tailfin from his tail. _Easy…_

And replace it by the automatic tailfin after that too. _Even more so…_

All he had to do was just push it there an-

"ROWWWRRRR" He whined when the tailfin suddenly jolted near his tail, snapping close with some of his scales in the middle.

"Toothless?" A voice called from the entrance and Toothless only had time to sigh before a blonde head popped from the staircase. "What are you doing boy?" Astrid asked as she stepped into the loft.

Toothless gazed at her before gazing at the automatic tailfin and then back at her again. He gave a hard push on the tailfin with his own tail, making it roll to the other side of the bed, hiding it from Astrid's sight.

The warrior put her hands on her hips for a moment before walking up towards the object, having obviously noticed Toothless's not that subtle attempt at hiding it. When the black dragon didn't let her pass she sighed, kneeling on Hiccup's bed before reaching out to the ground and grabbing the tailfin. She dropped it next to her on the bed. "Toothless."

Toothless groaned in his own way, upset. He turned his head, not facing her. She didn't understand…

"I understand, Toothless. I wanna go and get him right now like you."

Toothless ignored her.

"But the dragons are all too tired from the day. You all need to restore your energy, something you should be doing. And us too. I know something's wrong, I'm just hoping Hiccup holds on for a couple more hours-"

Astrid passed her hand on the tailfin before focusing on another thing. The Night Fury, finding her so quiet turned his head around curiously, only to whine in agony and sorrow when he saw her caressing the shoulder pad with... Well himself. A Night Fury. "I want to go get him so badly Toothless, something's terribly wrong I know it too, believe me."

Toothless stepped forward, swallowing his pride and tantrum to the point of going to curl himself around Astrid, laying his head on her lap. She was the second rider he was the most attached to after all. Also, Hiccup surely had feelings for her and Toothless had the urge to roll his eyes every time he spoke to him about her, glanced at her, played and worked with her. The blonde too, Toothless and Stormfly had found her gazing lustily at his rider often, and the way she talked about him was all the evidence needed. They should be mates by now, why were humans so difficult? The black snout pressed against the object she held. It smelled so much like Hiccup his heart ached.

"This time was different. It... It doesn't make sense. They didn't even use Dragon Root arrows, only those darts instead." She looked Toothless in the eyes before returning her gaze down at the object. "It's like they didn't even care about you or any other dragon. They just waited for the right moment to strike and-"

Toothless sit straight, widening his eyes just like the girl. Holy Alpha. Now he understood.

And he wished he didn't.

Astrid had the same expression. However, her worried, almost panicked features turned into confusion. "Isn't that-?" Toothless lowered his head, perfectly aware of what she was talking about. He grabbed the small broken dragon toy from the ground and dropped it on her lap. Before his pride broke more at the sight of a perfect mistake, the Night Fury turned his back to the blonde warrior.

Not much after came a long: "Oooohhhhhh" She mumbled, a short form for: You guys had a fight, that's why you seem different and why you were on the forest... one of you ran there and that's when... Oh.

Toothless "groaned" again, uncomfortably shifting the weight on his paws, as if saying: Well, yeah genius...

Astrid didn't reply. Instead, he felt something on his tail, as if someone was hastily removing his current tailfin. Shocked, he looked behind to find her doing so.

"They were here for him Toothless, and that's just... Not good. It isn't anything like Viggo to do such a... a careless attack. Look at all the clues they left behind! We're leaving now, Hiccup's in big trouble." She finished her task and got on her feet to look at her work, hands on her hips. Toothless tried the tailfin and nodded, glad that it was working just like it should. "The dragons will have to fly tired or not. I'll call the other riders; we're leaving now instead of in the dawn."

With a pat on Toothless's head, she hurried down the stairs, jumping a step here and another one there nervously. Toothless looked outside the window. He was going to get his buddy home, safe and sound. And if someone touched a single hair on his precious rider, Toothless would go Toothfull and very very angry.

-Not that he wasn't on the verge of blowing someone up by now either.

 **...**

To say Hiccup wasn't feeling okay would've been a complete nonsense.

To say he was feeling like yak dung, a rotten basket of old Mildew cabbages (eewww) or something in the same ghastly state of existence might have been a better attempt at defining him then.

But there was nothing he could do. No. Instead he just got to rot in that cell of his, counting his bruises and cuts, feeling his own very fricking energy (like...his life, he didn't really have much energy by now) slowly and agonizingly slipping away, not knowing how a bunch of rotten cabbages felt but guessing it must've been better than how he was doing.

Oh yeah right, and he had also left behind who so much as happened to be his first real friend, his best best BEST friend ever, his winged pillar, his amazing buddy thinking Hiccup... didn't need him.

Not to speak about Astrid, Dad, Fishlegs, Snotlout and the twins, Gobber, the village... pretty much everyone.

Wasn't it pleasant? Letting everyone you love down?

He had a muddy, dusty, whatever kind of certainly NOT "cleanly", gelid floor made of stone to help him loose the few heat his body still might have. It made an uncomfortable bed and chair and... It was pretty much it, a bed and chair, since Hiccup couldn't quite get up and go for a simple hiking, strolling along the seaside watching the sunset, go for a late flight with his happy best friend, or even stretch his legs through the pitch black squalid cell -his cell. It didn't quite work as ground for his foot and peg leg then- (the peg leg that was taken from him).

Not with all that iron around his red wrists and only ankle strapping him to the equally heartwarming wall he couldn't.

He sighed, hissing when he tried to move a bit to just get his neck in a better position. He'd blacked out at night, bleeding out. He'd lost so much blood in fact that the ground around him was now splotched by a scaring pull of the thing around him. The gash wasn't the deepest, and it didn't look like it hit any organ or major vein but it was large. And instead of bleeding out quickly, it had a slow flow, but rather uncomfortable nonetheless.

His hands had turned that colour, just like his wrist guards and pretty much the area nearby.

When he (surprisingly given his injury) woke up after passing out, he almost threw up. Not because of the sight, haha... No, it wasn't like he could actually see a thing in there for as close as it was to his eyes. Instead it was worse, he felt his clothes all splotched with the thing, and he also felt the thing coming out from where it was supposed to be- to go and splotch his clothes of course.

But that would be enough- he stopped himself from thinking about it before it was too late. Gathering all the little strength he could muster he'd finally managed to yank almost his entire leg (no no, just the pant not his leg really, that would be... ironic and certainly unhealthy), and created a makeshift bandage...

Honestly, he had no idea of what he was doing until it was finished.

So that part was good, the bad one was that he couldn't quite grab all the blood he'd lost and throw it inside his unwanted wound again. Therefore he didn't really want to look himself in the mirror at all, if how he felt was any indication of how he looked and really was...

Suddenly, a loud laughing and snorting echoed through the tunnels, breaking into the cell. Hiccup looked up, focusing on the happily chatting voices. Deep, happily chatting deep voices. He forced his eyelids to remain open, he was so utterly exhausted and his body ached so much from all the "wrong answers", that the minute he closed them he promptly fell asleep.

"-but it'll be a great show BAHAHAHA!" Boomed the first voice, which sounded like something between a very congested Viking shouting in a tunnel and someone yelling into his own mouth. "It'll give us profit. A lot of it apparently."

"I knowee. The sire says tha- it'll be a full 'ouse." The frog-like second one replied. If the first seemed to have his nose congested, Hiccup would highly recommend this one Hunter to see a healer before his sore and raspy throat shut him for good.

"Yeh, and the kid doesn't even imagine what'll happen to him. I mean who wouldn't pay to see a Dragon Rider being e-OWW YOU WANNA FIGHT?!"

"Shut ya filthy mouth idiot! The boy's near or ya wan' im to hear ya and try to 'escape from his surprise. 'Doubt Ryker would be 'appy with tha'. But it's ya throat not mine after all."

The first man growled under his breath but didn't dare speak again. The image of Bad-breath Ryker hurting his delicate neck or... passing a sword through his stomach... seemed better as a thought than reality.

Hiccup wished he could do the same, but he'd already faced the bald yak's wraith and apparently, a surprise would be coming his way.

Why was it that someone always knew something he didn't?

"Who wouldn't pay to see a Dragon Rider being e- e... e-" He mumbled to himself, trying to discover the rest.

 _Unless... Uh oh. No no-_

He trashed against his chains, panic feeling him. He had to get out of there wherever or it would be the curtains for him one way or another.

Were the other riders even looking for him? He hoped so. Was Toothless still mad? Probably. Had he made it back to the outpost safely? Or had he been here the whole time and that was also part of his now kind of obvious surprise?

All the thinking had thrown his head over the worst-migraine-ever border, and along with all the moving and failed attempts at breaking free from the chains his stabbing wound had started screaming at him- not to talk about all the other bruises.

Hiccup could've sworn he saw stars in the pitch black around him. He couldn't pass out again- he had to man up, plan and act.

He shook his head, everything he couldn't see was spinning, black was having a Thunderdrum ride.

No! He couldn't pass out- He had to escape like always!

But he was hungry, thirsty, c-cold, hurting, scared and, and he was alone.

 _Alone again._

His head slumped forward.

 **...**

He was a man of adventures! A man who never knew how it was to be stranded in one place only! He was a traveler, a merchant! A man of his word, a brave honest sailor who sailed the seas and its dangers! Like that one time he'd fought the one giant squid to extract its magnificent ink and sell it in exchange for the first sword or material worthy of such amazing product. Oh, how the beast was ashamed!

Yes, he remembered it well. It was a sunny day like many others, the waters were calm and the winds benign. The clouds seemed to have vanished and there he was, sailing off towards the next island in his map. All of a sudden the sky turned grey, thunder rolled from cloud to cloud- clouds that had appeared from nowhere. The sea shook and there it was, mighty and with its blood red eyes sen-

Oh, the island had finally appeared yes! He looked at his map, anxious to understand where his next transaction would be.

One of the Dragon Hunters' outposts. Ohh, those men weren't the sharpest spear in the set. He'd rather go back to Berk again. That seemed safer. These here gave him chilies.

When Trader Johann had chills, he couldn't focus to tell his amazing stories!

The boat came to a halt and that's when Johann realised he'd reached shore. Before even having time to unwillingly throw a wooden board onto the harbor, a giant bunch of giant stinky men came running along it, jumping on deck and landing ungracefully, others not even managing to jump all the way and opting to climb the side of the boat which resulted in many pushing and pulling and unexpected baths. Unexpected baths that surely didn't do them any bad- contrarily actually. It made the air slightly breathable.

Anyway, while the boar-headed idiots thought in their little devious brains that doing all that effort instead of waiting for the traveler to actually drop the wooden plank was worth it, more came running like little kids far on the desolating island pushing each other to get there before the other and shouting: TRADER JOHANN IS HERE! JOHANN'S HERE WITH STUFF!

Just as he was about to slowly maneuver the plank onto the harbor a heavy push did it for him. Johann shrieked, wincing in fear at the sight of Ryker walking onto deck, hands at his hips, chest puffed out proudly at the special man he was not. Still the merchant smiled politely, costumers were costumers after all.

"Ah Ryker sir I see your crew's excited. Let me present you some of my most spectacular products." Ryker kept his chronic resting unpleased face on. "Squid Ink, drained directly out of the giant North Squid's veins. What do you think?"

Ryker growled unpleased. "Ah yes of course, you really don't seem like a man with thoughts to put on paper-, er, not that uh- just tha-." He quickly dropped the bottle with ink and searched around for something else, trying to distract the muscled man from his almost insult. He had a face to keep.

"Well, here's a magnificent helmet wouldn't you say? Just right for a man of action! I can guarantee you that this is a true, authentic Roman helmet yes. Yanked out of the soldier's head itself! Hmm?"

"Is tha' all ya've got Johann?" Ryker groaned back.

Wow, he's in a worse mood than usual.

"Oh... I might have this as well. Well balanced, nicely forged and that's not all. It is said that it was found inside a dead shark in the Wild Sea. Twice the price for that experience?

Ryker yanked the sword out of the sailor's grip, trying it in his hand. He pulled a single coin out of his pocket and threw it at him before turning to one of his man, throwing the sword at him. "Take it ta meltin', might use some of tha' scrap tha' way."

The soldier seemed sad as he had to leave the Trader's boat earlier. Meanwhile, Johann tried to tell Ryker that was obviously not the 'twice the price' he'd talked about but to no use. The Hunter leader angrily left the boat without hearing to a thing the other had to say.

"Hey Johann!"

"Ah Garrick yes." He replied, receiving the payment for the Hunter's chosen mace. "Are ya staying over for the show?"

"I'm afraid I have no idea of what you're talking about Garrick."

"Alright… but you have to promise not to tell anyone or else I'll have to slice you to pieces, Ryker's being very secretive with who he picks for the killing."

"The... Killing? Like dragon killing you mean?"

"Do you promise or not?"

The merchant shook slightly, he didn't have a good feeling about this, like that one time he was sailing through thick fog an-

"Johann." A growl awoke him.

"But of course! I like myself intact after all, now tell me about that show."

Garrick seemed to believe him. Trader Johan wasn't known for being the boldest, bravest, fearless man on the Archipelago after all. If anything, he was the opposite, and a simple threat would be enough to shut him. "It's revenge Johann. Have you heard of the so called Dragon Riders?"

A shiver traveled Johann's spine. "I think I've heard about them yes, throughout my journeys. Rumors mostly..." He started sweating.

"Yes, those are true, they ride dragons. Say those beasts have a heart, nonsense I tell you. They're a group of teens, pathetic but they've actually been messing around with the business. Especially their leader, this useless one-legged runt- He thinks he's so smart. So Ryker ordered us to capture him. He was crying in the forest of their outpost like a baby can you believe it? So I shot him and we did like we were told." He jabbed a thumb at his chest, proudly remembering his horrible action. "Ryker's giving him a taste of his own remedy, in his condition and from what I've heard; he'll be like a little lamb in the middle of a circle of hungry, blood-thirsty dragons. What an embarrassing death for who says dragons shouldn't be sold. BAHAHAHAH. JUST IMAGINE THE TEEN'S FACES WHEN THEY GET HERE TOO LATE! ONE WAY OR ANOTHER HE'LL BE DEAD!"

Johann was imagining, oh man he was. He felt like throwing up on the side of his ship.

"His death will even be giving us lots of profit. So are you coming? It'll be fun."

1) Johan never knew Dragon Hunters had fun, 2) he didn't want to know, 3) this wasn't fun at all, 4) now that he knew what their fun meant he wished he could throw up and forget.

But ... Could it be? Dragon Riders yes, he knew them; they were great people from his favorite village. The dragons were after all kind creatures like they'd told him and Johan even had a debt to them for that one time his boat had been taken by the Fog Monster. He'd seen those kids grow up and the village with them. Now that he had been at the village and none appeared, Gobber and Stoick, the blacksmith and the chief and father of one of them, had told him about their new outpost and the fight with the hunters. After he'd told them about Dagur being on the loose outside the archipelago, they had apparently built it and stayed out here.

 _One-legged runt, leader… Oh but for Midgard!_ "Master Hiccup...!" They're going to kill him!?

"What ya say?" Garrick asked, furrowing and eyebrow, his grip on the new mace tightening.

 _Think think! You didn't just sell him the mace for it to end on your face_. Think Johann! "Hmmm...Oh haha I said 'Must be an idiot' "

Garrick growled, getting closer to the other man. His breath stank and Johann barely kept himself together.

Then, his face turned to an ugly, loud laugh. Johann watched his dirty teeth, also laughing albeit nervously. The Hunter slapped his back. "That he is! So are you coming or not?! Of course there's a price..."

Johann swallowed. "I'm... afraid, I really must go, you see there's an important market up north and-"

"AH OF COURSE! Well, I'll go then. I understand the seriousness of business." With that, he gave another hard pat on the trader (who almost flew) and started leaving.

Johann sighed in relief, he was quite proud of not having fainted under the pressure. Then, Garrick called him from behind, and with a nervous laugh the trader turned around.

Garrick walked over to him, face to face. "Just so you don't forget. This stays between us, no story telling aye? I don't think Viggo knows either, and it would be a shame to get ugly with you. Understood?"

"Understood. Y-yes. No telling..."

"Good..." With that he turned and waved. "Bye!"

The trader breathed, Garrick was finally gone for good. He watched all the other Hunters on his boat. Johan sighed before smiling again at a passing Hunter, hoping this visit to just get over as soon as possible for him to set sail and get out of there.

And possibly tell someone, the right someone, about the poor heir of Berk.

...

"Hey Astrid?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you tired?"

Astrid thought about it. She hadn't closed an eye ever since Hiccup disappeared, she refused to and... She literally couldn't fall asleep at all.

"I've been better yeah. Why Snotlout?"

"Oh... I don't know... It's just... Since you're tired and we're tired... I can't fully understand why YOU FRICKING MADE US GET UP HALF AN HOUR AFTER GOING TO BED!" He complained, waving his arms in despair.

Astrid sighed; she should've seen that coming. He hadn't stopped complaining for a single moment the whole trip. They'd been flying since the middle of the night, it was now morning.

Maybe she really was tired. Like, to the point of believing the minute he shut up it'd be for good.

"We've talked about this!" She answered in a tired, angry, sing-song voice. Seriously, how did Hiccup put up with them 24/7 every day?

"Yeah, but you're not the one to have them behind you!" Snotlout replied, pointing a thumb to the Zippleback flying behind him, more like constantly crashing against him and Hookfang.

The twins were just like their dragon, sleep-flying, drowsily slapping each other to keep awake. The two dragon heads too hit each other with... well, themselves, which almost threw their sleeping riders off their sells and down to the sea below. It was then kind of obvious why they kept bumping with Hookfang.

Astrid sighed and directed her gaze to the front of the 'v' like formation. Toothless flew in the leader position, his black pupils narrow splits from concentration. He'd been like that the whole time, and besides being desperate to bring her best friend back home, the black-jet dragon had been one of the reasons why she'd made them leave so early- or late, it depends on the day really.

Astrid knew he would've tried to leave one way or another, and with paws instead of hands, it'd be impossible for him to put the automatic tailfin on by himself. She couldn't bear to see him like that, mainly because she knew he wouldn't give up, and for Hiccup he'd go to extremes, like trying to swim his way towards his rider for example.

Toothless would go to extremes for Hiccup and guess what; Hiccup would go to extremes for Toothless. That's why she knew it.

The other reason, well it was obvious. She couldn't bear to be away from Hiccup, not know how Hiccup was, how Hiccup felt… Hell, if Hiccup felt. And she knew this had been for revenge, which made her worry all the more.

If they laid a single finger on him, she'd go berserk.

Toothless and Stormfly kept flying in the same direction which was good, that meant they had a clear sent to follow. Apparently, that sent wasn't leading them to the Hunters' central base which made sense according to Astrid's hypothesis.

It was all Ryker. And Viggo possibly didn't know about it, therefore they were in an outpost, not the central base where rescuing Hiccup would've been 'impossible' per say. _Ha, so much for brother trust!_ The Grimborn's had no honor!

How she wished she could know more, or even if that thought was correct. They had no idea of what they would be facing.

Snotlout was rambling to himself about how he'd make the Dragon Hunters regret the day they were born for taking his cousin, and Astrid smiled for a second. He didn't seem to notice his mouth was actually voicing his thoughts.

Then Barf and Belch once again almost threw him out of the sky, and the bickering restarted, not that the twins seemed to care. They restored their energy at night, to be the electric, super active, prank-and-jokes-lovers they were during the day. Yanking them from their sleep not even an hour after they'd called it a night was showing its repercussions.

She knew it was hard not sleeping for a night and that they actually cared but... she also wished they weren't so careless sometimes and that they actually showed their worry for each other more.

Like she did for Hiccup. No, she didn't spend the time obsessing over him, telling him to be careful (actually...), licking him when his crazy stunts could've killed him (like Toothless, don't go there...) or telling him she loved him - but he knew she cared about him, she'd give her life for his. Right? He knew she loved him although she never really said it?

Which in situations like this made her wonder if there would actually still be a time for that.

No. There would be. Hiccup was the most stubborn person she'd ever seen and he always came unscarred (or not much at least) out of bad situations.

Gods she was sounding just like those three muttonheads now fighting in the back of the group.

But she was so nervous, so so worried that Hiccup might not come out of that one that she had to try to help her with those thoughts. Gods, if Hiccup died... No, she couldn't imagine it, she couldn't think of life without that green-eyed, life-loving dork.

Gods, how could Toothless be that focused, was that his own stress effects? She knew he was even worse than she was, like, she wouldn't want to be separated from Stormfly after a fight either, and not being sure if she'd ever see her girl again...

"ASTRID!"

"Huh?!"

"I've been calling you since forever Astrid." Fishlegs said from Meatlug, who flew next to Stormfly.

"Oh, sorry. I'm just-"

"Worried, yeah I know. The death grip on the saddle pretty much describes it."

Astrid looked down at her white knuckles, gripping the saddle in worriedness. "Oh..."

"Hey, I know you're worried. I am too. Hiccup's my best friend and I'd do anything to have him back here with us by now."

"Alive. Preferably..." She muttered.

Fishlegs stayed silent for a moment. How do you answer that? "We'll find him, you'll see and... He'll be on his feet just like he always is. You know Hiccup, he would do everything to avoid being bed-ridden."

"Foot but...Yeah. Thanks Fishlegs." She smiled. The chubby boy smiled back, before disapproaching Meatlug from the Deadly Nadder and so going back to their position on the 'v' formation.

Astrid had just turned her face from him, allowing her expression to be a thoughtful one, when Fishlegs called her again.

She sighed.

"Astrid! Johann's boat! Down there." He said, pointing towards his right. "And he seems like he's trying to get our attention."

She extended her arm to grab the spyglass Fishlegs lent her and brought it to her blue eye. Surely there he was, waving his arms about frantically. "Ugh, we don't have time for this!" She complained. If Johann needed help he'd have to wait, she had to find her Hiccup first. Besides, Toothless was angry enough to be the danger himself if they stopped.

Snotlout clapped at her comment. "Soooo, we're just going to leave him there right? Because, thanks to these two muttonheads over here, I seriously do NOT have the head for his stupid stories! Not that I've ever had any other day."

She thought about it. _He always has those many stories (more than half of them fake or exaggerated ones) because he traveled everywhere. Therefore, he might know something about Hiccup!_ But that also meant loosing precious time...

"No, actually we're checking out what he wants." Astrid sighed, changing her mind. It wasn't like she didn't like Johann, it wasn't like she wanted to leave him by his own either, it was just that they couldn't lose time. Still, Hiccup would've wanted them to help the merchant. And he might have seen or heard something useful.

"OHHHHH BUT- BUT I THOUGHT YOU WERE WORRIED ABOUT YOUR SWEET LITTLE HICCUP!" Tuffnut whined, more asleep than anything else.

She blushed but pretended to move on.

"SHUT UP BRO, YOU'RE JUST MAKING HER BLUSH, LOOK AT HOW BLUSHIE BLUSH SHE IS HAha..." Ruffnut joined in, yawning after.

 _Moving on! Yup! Sounds fuuuun_.

"Toothless!" She called, to which the dragon didn't seem to pay much attention. "Sorry boy, but we'll have to make a quick stop now alright?"

Toothless stopped and looked at her. Gods he was mad. "I know I know, but it'll be quick..." He kept unamused and ready to go by himself. "...also, we can ask him if he knows anything about Hiccup. Maybe he saw something that could help us."

That seemed enough, and even if still wanting to keep going, the Night Fury bolted towards the ship, as if saying _"then you better make it quick! or-"_

...

Hiccup curled in a ball, letting out a moan. He'd shut his eyes tightly, bracing himself because of the cold. With each shiver, his body jolted in pain, which ended up in another lightning-like agonizing moment spreading through his body.

By now, his bangs had glued themselves to his forehead, it didn't make sense, he was so cold!

 _Ugh, just great._ He had a fever apparently. All because of the stupid gash mister Rykey bad humor in person had given him. That and all the other brui-

He urged forward, feeling the need to puck at the thought of all the blood he felt on the "temporary" bandages. Ha! He didn't even know if he'd get the chance to change to new ones... It was a miracle the fact that he was hanging on how he was. He should be dead by now or in the very least incapable of breaking out of unconsciousness.

He heaved, doubling over in pain. He had nothing on his stomach so what all the throwing up for nothing thing did was worsen everything.

Hiccup curled into himself again. He cleaned his watery eyes with the back of his hands- he couldn't cry, he wouldn't.

It was just that... Gods, he was so afraid of never seeing everyone again, without a goodbye or something. What if he couldn't hang on any more like he had been doing just to at least make things up with Toothless? How would he make it up then? He wouldn't and it pained him not being able to at least see his buddy one last time and tell him how amazing he was-

Footsteps echoed through the stone corridors and Hiccup could've sworn hearing the heavy sound of a door lock being opened.

He just hoped it wasn't his cell door.

His eyelids slid close without further notice and he was dead to the world.

Someone opened his door.

...

His vision cleared, and then he wished it hadn't.

Not seeing seemed much better than having to be face to face with Ryker at least.

"Ye're finally awa'ke. Thought ya never would." The man spat, smiling his usual cruel… smile. "Ye're not sa good now I see.

Hiccup trashed, noticing his hands were, once again, tied to the floor by tight shackles and chains, just like his only ankle. He didn't even have his prosthetic.

Not being able to fight back the pained expression on his face, he tried to at least sound brave. " 'nd I see you're still too much of a coward to chain a one-legged, hurt man." Of course his voice had to break in the beginning…

Ryker snorted. "It's called being sure."

"Wow, I thought that-t was Viggo's thing. You can d-do that t-too? Ryker, you d-don't seem to st-top am-mazing me."

Ryker growled, grabbing a handful of his auburn hair and pulling his head back by it. Hiccup didn't make a sound. "I didn't bring ya here to get ya being funny boy. I can hurt ya so bad you won' even kno' wha' world ye're from."

"Midgard." He gasped for breath, "Last time I checked at least."

Ryker almost roared, which led Hiccup to notice that for someone who hunted so many dragons, he was oddly like them…In noise and manners of course. Wait- He would be insulting the dragons by such comparison. They were much better in so many ways.

They even had better manners than this guy.

"Now, ya 'ave one last chance of getting' outta here intact at least," Ryker declared, "Ya could tell me what I want to know, or- ya could not and have yer little surprise."

When would he learn?! that Hiccup?! would never ?! tell him a thing?! How could someone be so blind to that?

"Then?"

Hiccup's face turned to a scowl. He was getting tired of that, and never would Ryker make him break. He thought he was all stubborn and strong. Hiccup would show him what stubbornness was really like.

Suddenly, Hiccup screamed, catching himself afterwards. He wouldn't give Ryker that pleasure.

"Tell me." The man snarled, ripping Hiccup's makeshift bandages and harshly sticking his thumb in the wound, pressing, turning, doing whatever he could to get something out of the young rider.

Hiccup squeezed his eyes shut. It was unbearable, agonizing; he didn't even know how to describe what he was feeling. Screaming wasn't enough, and it wasn't like he would let himself scream either. Ryker wouldn't get to hear him like that.

"Tell me." The man insisted. "Tell me what you know."

Hiccup gasped, feeling the fingers on his hands curling into fists, his knuckles probably turning white, his nails digging in the flesh of his palms. He tried curling into himself, to hide himself from the pain, but Ryker kept pulling his hair backwards, stopping him.

Tears welled up in his eyes, and he was sure his teeth were about to break.

"Are you ready to tell me now? Or are you still the same sharp-tongued as before?!"

Hiccup felt the man twisting his hand again and almost choked. He wanted Toothless so bad. He just wanted his dragon. He was all he wanted. And Astrid. And his dad. He wanted Toothless.

He opened his eyes, finding Ryker's face twisted in a funny way. He blinked his eyes again, trying to clear his vision, but every time he opened them, the man's face and the room around him seemed to find another weird form.

"I-" He gasped, suddenly not being able to breathe properly. "I'm-" He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, before making himself face Ryker's… giant forehead and eyes glued to the nose? Whatever. He couldn't get any more disgusting.

He kept refilling his lungs with air, but it never seemed enough. It was like the pain, the sharp stabbing, burning pain stole all of it every time he tried to calm down. "I'm rea- I'm ready-" He almost groaned. "I'm read-d-y –t-"

He could've sworn seeing Ryker smile, but didn't really care about that.

"I'm read-dy to t-tell you- h-how much I- l- ha-hate your mustache."

Ryker probably pressed more on his wound, unamused with the comment. What did he want him to do?! It was honesty. Wasn't that what he wanted? The truth?

One way or another, Hiccup must've blacked out, because next thing he knew, something icy cold was dumped over his head, adding to his shivers. Ice. Iced water. So much love…

"Wha-" Next thing he knew, he had been thrown onto the floor, his back hitting the floor with a PACK!

He looked around, biting deeply on his lip to stop himself from screaming right there. Pe-people? He was by what it looked like, in an arena, the benches outside surrounding it were full. Hiccup narrowed his eyes, he hadn't seen sunlight for a while now, and it made his eyes ache even if he didn't stare directly at the sky. By what he could see, the crowd was mostly made of Hunters and thugs from in and outside the archipelago, bounty hunters, pirates! _All the usual scum you don't want to get yourself involved with's here, nice._

He didn't really feel like staying there on the floor like some old bag, but it wasn't like he could get up and stand there just fine either. Hiccup slowly managed to push himself up, waving horribly on his foot and often having to support himself with a hand on the ground both from the pain and due to the fact that he had to balance on one foot only. He was kind of keen on that by now but still…

He gripped his stomach tightly, his breathing raspy and somewhat panicked when he felt warmth draining down his hands. What little he'd been managed to achieve by reducing the bleeding had been thrown to waist. He felt his hand embedded in the stuff and grimaced, freezing when he found no one more, no one less than Ryker outside, at a safe distance from the metal beams that were the roof of that arena, which looked scarily alike Berk's one when you know, they killed dragons.

Ryker smiled coldly, just like every other time. Hiccup wasn't one to get mad often, but when he did, he was able to throw such a death glare that one would wonder if he really was a hiccup. And he was mad. Even madder for being useless and helpless, not being able to push himself to do something about it all.

He already knew what would be coming in next, and Ryker seemed to be enjoying it.

 _What a surprise…_

"Who's ready ta see Tha Dragon Tamer bein' tamed?!" The man voiced with his deep accent.

The crowds sheered, anxious for the bloodshed.

Hiccup scowled and barely contained himself from screaming that he didn't tame dragons. _They're not some monsters to be put under control, it's based on does everyone get that wrong?! Can't they at least kill me politely?!_ Of course, the round arena was spinning madly like a giant wheel and he didn't even bother trying to reply. No one would listen to him one way or another.

Breathing in a raspy breath, he actually spoke,"I just really hope your little brother doesn't find out what you did," Hiccup smiled smugly, as smugly as someone in his position could ", without his consent of course. You wouldn't be much of an example right? Acting without his consent?" He mocked.

Ryker growled like every time he'd expressed himself for the past days, looking around to stop himself and give the dragons some chances. Then the bald man turned all his attention to him again. "Any last words boy?" He spat.

Hiccup looked around, pointlessly, since there was no one else with him inside the arena. Then, he focused back on the man, ready to give the first sarcastic remark his brain could think off. Suddenly, his heart leapt into his throat when he faintly made out the practically invisible sight of what looked like dragons on the sky. He couldn't be sure but… he wanted to believe. He felt like crying, from both relief and sorrow. Could it be them?!

One way or another, they were too far off to reach him in time. He noticed sadly. If it was them at all, and not some wild flock of dragons this is. They were so far away, blended into the dark blue of the sky, that he couldn't see riders. And if there were riders, he would be dragon lunch when they arrived. The good part was that Ryker would get his ass kicked, and his little party burned to the ground.

"Nah," Hiccup let out.

Ryker didn't seem a bit pleased, if the way his nostrils widened to let more rage fill his being.

Honestly, Hiccup didn't really understand why the man even tried. Did he hope Hiccup would suddenly drop to his knees and beg him for his life in exchange for all the information he, as an heir and leader of the dragon riders, had? After he'd been refusing to do so for the past days?

"Open the gates!" He demanded, and the crowd came back to life, whistling, hoarse voiced shouting, clapping. _All good and just decent human beings…_

Hiccup could faintly make out the sight of several people making bets, not on if he'd survive or not, but which dragon would finish him off and even in his position, he felt like face palming. It wasn't even a fair confront- not that they cared about fairness or morals at all of course. He knew Ryker had wounded him on purpose- and for his own fun as well- for he was perfectly aware that Hiccup had great chances of befriending the dragons.

Doors were nearly destroyed and he barely had time to duck before a dirty white and black mass flashed over him. From one of the doors, a Monstrous Nightmare clawed at the walls, his green scaly body covered in horrible, heartbreaking scars from the Hunters' cares. He walked around the arena, not on the ground but in the walls before climbing the certainly dragon proof chains and bars assuming the roof role.

From another door, a black Razorwhip roared. The men outside the arena threw whatever they had at it, laughing as if that was the best thing in the world. Needless to say, the dragon fumed, its irises pure splits and its nostrils enraged with everything around him.

But it wasn't all. _No no no. It would be too easy, wouldn't it? Of course. There had to be the amazing, wonderful, fluffy… Whispering Death!_

Hiccup waved on his foot, looking around at the dragons. His vision wanted to fade away, probably to leave Hiccup to the dragons and not be bothered by the sight. The three dragons had, with no shade of doubt, been treated horribly and Hiccup almost motioned forward, towards one of them, his heart saddened at their sight. _They don't deserve to be here. They deserve to be out there and free._

But his rational side reminded him that because of that, they were extremely mad and were there to finish him off.

The dragons noticed something in the middle of the arena and instantly all eyes were on him, growls and hissing leaving the creatures.

"Hemm- hello…" The Whispering Death flashed forward, straight towards him. The Razorwhip did the same, angrily bolting towards his back. The Nightmare decided to drop from the ceiling and fall on top of Hiccup. Just to be original.

The boy jumped to the side at the last minute, and the dragons crashed against each other, angrily entangling wings with snouts and legs and claws and tails. Hiccup fell on the ground again, his stomach jolting with the sudden impact and sending black dots to dance in his vision, as if to mock him.

He couldn't move. It was too much. He would faint any minute. His hand still gripped his wound, wet with blood. The dragons could most likely smell it too, which worsened the odds. If they were hungry and unfed, it would be very bad news to Hiccup.

The Nightmare was the first one to recover from the literal shock, since he'd simply fallen on top of the other two who seemed busy fighting for the moment. He caught a glimpse of the human still in the hole they were in, and growled, cautiously stepping towards him. He could smell blood, and although he certainly didn't eat humans, bad humans were a fine meal for a dragon that hadn't eaten for days.

The human looked at him with painful green eyes. He could hear the Vikings shallow breathing, and the origin of the smell. He was helpless, an easy catch. Then, the dragons gaze fell on the boy?s feet. He couldn't harm him; he didn't even have two feet! The human was harmless but still...

Hiccup pulled himself against the wall, lightheadedness swallowing him whole. With much difficulty he stood, pressing himself hard against the support there was. It was like he could almost hear Ryker's evil laugh mocking him. No wait, he could actually hear it. It would be great if the wall just suddenly swallowed him, or the ground grew a hole. However, the only thing that happened was a new hiss from the dragon. Disappointing but he could at least try to befrienit since it was alone. It would buy him some time.

"Hey-y b-buddy, thi-sss issn't f-fun ri-right?" The dragon let vapor out of his nostrils, and Hiccup could tell its body heat increased. "But hey, at le-least that's so-m-methe-thing we have in com-m-mon, rig-ht?"

The dragon tilted its head, listening curiously. _To bite or not to bite?_

"I'm n-not goin' t-t-to hu-rr-hurt ya see?" He gestured to his middle, " 'm not one of-fff t-themm" He breathed in deeply, groaning. "They hu-hurt 'm too. Li-ke yo-" He grunted, leaning his head against the wall behind him. _What am I doing? These dragons have obviously Viking trusting problems!_

His legs finally buckled, but to his surprise something broke his fall. Through half lidded eyes, he found the Monstrous Nightmare supporting his chest. In a daring moment he weakly petted the dragon's snouts and though at first it flinched, then it relaxed under Hiccup's palms.

Granted, Ryker's laughter had died.

Apparently, the Nightmare must've been hurt too much by the hunters as well, and seeing Hiccup he understood that, just like himself, he was caged. Which put them on the same side.

Besides, the boy surely knew how to caress his scales.

 _Guess no biting then._

Furious roaring echoed on the walls, and Hiccup cursed under his breath how quickly he'd forgotten about the other two. _A Razorwhip can be trainable, a Whispering Death? Not so much._

Ryker's laugh returned.

Hiccup slipped to the ground, his world a mix of black, white and reality. He was done for sure. The Monstrous Nightmare turned to the other dragons and roared, standing over Hiccup's limp body in a protective stance.

The ones who betted on the green dragon shouted, obviously enraged by losing the bet.

Hiccup petted the Nightmare's leg. How he wished it was Toothless. "'m sorry buddy." His hand fell limply and his world finally turned to nothing at the sound of the roars.

 **…**

Toothless was the first one to land aboard Trader Johan's ship, Stormfly coming in second. With all the stuff inside, there wasn't much space left on the small deck so apart from Meatlug, Hookfang and Barf and Belch being the bigger dragons (only in size though) were forced to keep flying in circles around it.

"Oh Miss Astrid! Mister Fishlegs! I'm overjoyed to see you!"

"Hello Johan." Fishlegs stepped in, laughing nervously at the sight of his very impatient comrades. Toothless looked like he was holding a grudge on someone. Which he probab- certainly was. Astrid kept pacing around. "We saw you waving. What's the problem?"

Johan took a deep breath, like he usually did when a long looong narrative was about to come out of his mouth. "The short version please, we're in a hurry." Astrid interrupted.

The trader nodded when his eyes landed on Toothless and his empty saddle. At that sight he brought his own hand to his mouth in a very, Johan-like, overly dramatic gasp. "Oh Thor, so it is true!"

"What's true?" Astrid demanded, stepping forward to look the man in the eye. Gods, why did he always take so long to get to the point?!

"Where's Master Hiccup?"

"We- huh, we have no idea" Fishlegs said, sadly looking at his feet.

"That's kinda why we have to get going! Duh! " Snotlout shouted from Hookfang when the duo passed by. He sounded extremely annoyed.

"Well, I'm afraid I do." Johan declared. Instantly all jaws on deck hang open and Toothless cautiously made his way to the Trader, growling in a demanding stance, pushing him against the mast in order to get answers.

Johan choked on his own saliva, wearily eyeing the jet-black scaly reptile who could easily snap him in two in the blink of an eye…Or less. Astrid must've sensed that the only thing they would be getting out of the man was either a panic or a heart attack and that didn't really help their situation, for she put her hand on Toothless' snout and told him to back off.

"Speak Johan."

"I-uhm... I was sailing in the calm waters, the wind was helping the boat and I was re-" he glanced at all the glares he was being given, perhaps this really was the perfect time to try and train his syntheses capacity. "Dragon Hunters. Honestly, they're the worst customers ever, never pay right and there's always the death threat hanging around. Then there's always innumerous bases everywhere so when it came next in my route it was no surprise. Ryker. He's got Master Hiccup and there'll be a... show, I don't know, it sounds nothing but trouble. I got a Hunter telling me about it, and it's supposed to be a secret, only few people know or should I say- only some don't know as in his brother. He said something about gaining profit with it and how it would be embarrassing for Master Hiccup, how he'd be 'like a lamb in the middle of the dragons he says are good' and incapable of doing anything in his condition?" Then, Johan finally breathed.

Needless to say, Astrid gasped. Behind her Fishlegs hiccupped, on the dragons the others had heard. Snotlout seemed ready to murder someone and the twins surely had awoken a bit from their sleepy state.

Toothless cooed, his earbuds growing to glue themselves against his head. Condition? His Hiccup had a condition? He didn't understand. His toxic green eyes turned almost 100% black from his expanding irises. Then his heartbroken expression that seemed way too human turned into an enraged one. Public execution, just like many tribes did with dragons like him, only then the condemned dragon was killed by Vikings, while others watched.

"Where is it Johan? Where's the island?!" Astrid almost yelled.

"It's one of their outposts, Viggo doesn't seem to know about it. The island's just about half an hour northeast by boat, so by dragon it's just about 10 quick minutes. I just came from there." He said, looking around skeptically for no motive.

Toothless instantly took off, flying like a black bullet above the surface of the ocean, water being sprawled all over in his wake. The Zippleback and Monstruous Nightmare following behind at a great speed. Fishlegs thanked Johan and took off, whispering soothing words to Meatlug, though it was obvious he was as equally distressed.

Astrid was about to take off with Stormfly when Johan stepped forward, directing her some last words. "And Miss Astrid remember this is revenge miss, and I only understand so much, I'm truly sorry for not knowing more."

Astrid was a bit shocked by the sight of such a story-telling, fearful, barely serious man talking about revenge. Her mood wasn't the best one in over a thousand miles but his effort at trying to at least resume the 3 hour worth of talking information into some brief moments was heartwarming, so she actually smiled. 'Thank you Johan. And you told us all there was to know, the rest's with us. You're a good man." With that they were airborne and the merchant's voicing of good luck soon vanished with the wind.

Toothless was now a black dot in the horizon and Stormfly was the only one who, could not keep up with him- because gods, how fast could that dragon fly especially furious,- but at least not lose him from sight. Second fastest dragon, something to be proud of, "Come on girl, give me all you've got."

She knew she couldn't let Toothless go in blasting everyone and everything into oblivion. It was way too dangerous in every aspect; they'd have to adopt a mix of KABOOM, organization and stealth. Their one and single goal was to get Hiccup back home safe, and for as much as Astrid wanted to try the effect of her axe on the bald Dragon Hunter's head it could compromise their mission.

Another reason for not letting a furious Night Fury go in alone, like, he wasn't called The Unholy Offspring of Lightning and DEATH itself for nothing. Even being a lot like his rider, Astrid didn't want to see what a mad Toothless would leave in his path.

Not when Hiccup was in danger.

The island came into view and a plan seemed to just pop in her mind- it was a great feeling, and Astrid wondered if that's how Hiccup felt every time his ingenious brain cooked the most sudden plan ever.

All she had to do first was reach that ovERPROTECTIVE NIGHT FURY IN TIME-

…

 _Forget the stealth._

 _Repeat._

 _FORGET THE STEALTH!_

"Astrid!" Fishlegs called, his voice shaking. "It's already happening!" He yelped.

Astrid frowned, her lip quivering. _Just hang on Hiccup, we're right here._ The dragons were now close enough for the riders to observe everything without the need for spyglasses. The kill ring was chaotic. _A black Razorwhip, a green Monstruous Nightmare and… great, a Whispering Death._

 _Oh boy… no. Hiccup never trained a Whispering Death like the other dragons._

Speaking of the boy, wher- Toothless whined and Astrid's gaze followed the Night Fury's glare. Her heart pounded in her head, Stormfly's wings adding a painful rhythm to it.

The Nightmare seemed to be going against the other two dragons. However, he never left his place against the wall either. Her blue eyes caught sight of the could see a figure, lying on his side near one of the dragon's back paws and long talons. The dragon was trained. Trained by-

"Hiccup!" She gasped. There was only one reason for him to be like that and not trying to train the other two dragons, or at least the Razorwhip.

Suddenly the Whispering Death bolted forward, engaging a fight between the green dragon and itself. Bodies collided, scales flew and talons were waved about. The two dragons were thrown by each other across the field, and Astrid breathed in relief when they didn't squeeze the boy into a pancake.

She could see him fully now although they were still too high for details. He was lying limply on his side, not moving nor attempting to do something out of his situation. Whatever had happened to him, she just wished it was some minor injury or from tiredness. It wouldn't be good either, but it was better than something way more serious. She couldn't imagine the other way.

"You had a plan right?!" Snotlout yelled, watching her with eyes that showed he too noticed what she couldn't take her eyes off.

Down there the Razorwhip found its way to the prey clear. It would never eat a human but it was starting to fade with the lack of food. It was agonizing, and if eating one of the people who treated him bad then it would without a second thought. For as much as it cost him, it was survival and with both the other dragons occupied, he had his way free and eased besides all of the human to himself.

Toothless roared his eyes wild and furious. He noticed the black dragon about to reach his human and with an ear-splitting screech, dove towards his rider.

Astrid gripped her saddle tightly, watching the Night Fury dive-bomb, before turning back to her friends. "I had! But Toothless already gave us away!" She saw the Night Fury shoot a plasma blast, destroying the nearest wall on its top, just enough for him to fit in between it and the dragon proof bars above. Smoke blocked her sight as the audience screamed and shouted, some fleeing and some pulling their weapons. Several purple blasts shone through the dust clouds.

Several Hunters made their way to the arena when Ryker's shout echoed on the skies. _I can't let them get to Toothless. I can't let them get to Hiccup!_ "Forget the stealth, forget the plan!" She ordered. "Just keep everyone away from Hiccup and Toothless. Try to get that dome up so I can get in with Stormfly!"

 **…**

The Razorwhip wasn't hard to fight off. It was weak, and starving. Though food was for it a priority, it couldn't get the food if a mad Night Fury that just appeared from the dust killed it first.

Toothless was quite proud with himself, though his mind was elsewhere.

A growl defied him and Toothless looked around to find a Monstrous Nightmare growling at him at the same time it growled at a Whispering Death.

Toothless hated Whispering Deaths. He didn't have a good story with one either.

Hearing the iron caging them inside being pulled up, the black dragon shot a blast towards the two fighting creatures and the scared one aside. They all looked at him, and Toothless motioned for the sky with his snout. Instantly, both the Whispering Death and the Razorwhip took off, not wanting to stand there a second longer.

They had suffered enough on that place to give up their freedom over something like a scuffle.

The green Nightmare however, didn't. Instead, its eyes widened and it roared wrathful. Toothless looked behind him, his eyes widening, completely ignoring the sound of a dragon landing nearby, and axe being unsheathed and the fact that the dirt cloud had died down.

While the Riders fought (read: scared) off the horrible humans in the crowd, and stopped hunters from reaching their prisoner and dragons, Ryker had taken advantage of that.

Toothless felt his wings falling by his side, his heart beating faster than ever in his throat, his vision almost blurred. And he felt like doing that spilling water from the eyes thing humans did. Astrid barely had time to mentally slap herself when her legs lost strength under her, and her mouth almost betrayed her to the point of crying he's name in front of that- that-

" **YOU MONSTER!** " She shouted.

She'd prayed for him to be alright, to only have some minor injuries. Well, she wasn't that lucky, and should've known better. _The gods aren't that kind._

Toothless cooed, his eyes growing wide in shock and... And sorrow for there was his buddy.

Hiccup's eyes were closed, face... more than pale, his auburn locks had lost their shine thanks to all the dust and- and blood on them. He was limp, and it didn't take much to understand he was completely out of it.

But that was only part of it. Toothless barely remembered how to breathe and Astrid barely held her tears back.

The boy's torso was completely covered in blood llike his hands and arms-it was horrifying. His leather armor showed a deep gash where the crimson color darkened. A horrendous cut stood out on his temple, more red running down his face, so bright and noticeable in his white freckled skin and purple lips.

 _He looks dead._

Hiccup obviously still had his hands chained to each other, and his prosthetic was missing but that didn't stop Ryker from hastily grabbing him by his hair and holding a knife to his throat.

Holding a knife to a possibly dead body's throat…

How brave isn't it? Not coward at all.

"Among othe' things... Now I wouldn't make another move if I were ya."

"What do you want Ryker?!" Astrid grit her teeth, that was usually Hiccup's line.

Ryker growled something back in his hoarse, heavy- accented voice but Toothless didn't even acknowledge it. He kept looking at the only thing that mattered to him, staring in shock.

 _His little buddy._

 _His little, precious human._

 _His brother._

 _His small treasure._

 _His Hiccup- his Hiccup looks dead._

 _Dead_. Hiccup seemed dead. But he wasn't was he? No. His best friend was the strongest human he knew. He wouldn't go down without a fight. He was too stubborn to die. But what if he'd already given all he had?

The proof was right in front of him, his rider's limp, motionless, lifeless body.

 _He couldn't see him breathing._

 _He couldn't hear him breathing._

 _He's dead and it's your entire fault. You and your stupid pride! He'll never know you're sorry, he'll never fly with you again, fall with you again. He'll never smile or talk to you again, you're never going to hear his gentle, loving 'bud' again, feel his trusting palm on your head in comfort. He'll never know how special he was, how you love him. He died alone, scared, in pain, cold, thinking you hated him, thinking you would never be forgiven, you would never forgive him, that you thought he hated you, that you hated him. THINKING YOU DIDN'T NEED HIM! He's gone._

 _You'll have to live without him; after all, you said you didn't care right? You told yourself he was just a human because of an arguing. You were too busy minding what didn't matter, and the important slipped away. All because of a stupid quarrel, your stupid pride, your stubbornness. The stupid quarrel was the last thing you two did anyway. THE LAST THING YOU TOLD HIM WAS THAT YOU DIDN'T NEED HIM WASN'T IT?!_

When he came back from his thoughts, Astrid was in a heated exchange of 'words' (more like heated, one-sided talk, she was telling the man things not even a dragon dared repeat) with Ryker, who pressed the blade deeper against the boy's soft flesh, a thin trail of blood instantly escaping through there.

The girl froze.

The Nightmare froze.

Toothless shakily filled his lungs with air.

"You knew you'd never make it out of this one, didn't you?" She accused, waving the axe dangerously about. Her glare softened when Ryker let the boy slip a bit.

 _Toothless couldn't hear his heart._

 _His rider was hurt. And he couldn't hear his heart._

"I already got wha' a wanted now migh' as well use wha' I got.."

 _His buddy was-_

She ignored the 'what I wanted part', knowing very well what it meant. A lump formed in her throat, paining every swallow. "So you're using Hiccup has blackmail. His life for your life."

 _His little Hiccup._

"I could easily take ya down girl, don't be pathetic. Besides, his dead already-" The Hunter smirked, amused. "- you might want the body though. And then, yes, you'll let me go, with the Night Fury."

 _Ryker hurt, killed his Hiccup._

"Your looks really don't suit your dumbness." Astrid narrowed her eyes. Ryker found it a sort of compliment, as if she was bowing to his demands. She of course meant the other way around. (A few moments later he understood what she meant and scowled though, it just took some time processing first.)

He didn't stand a chance, and this was his desperate attempt to save his own skin, she knew it. He was surrounded by three angry dragons that cared about the one he hurt and Astrid wouldn't go light on him either.

 _NO ONE EVER EVEN TOUCHES MY HICCUP!_

Toothless snapped; his teeth seemed to come even more out. He let out the loudest roar he remembered ever making, so loud that Astrid covered her ears and Ryker almost dropped Hiccup to the ground, shutting his eyes tightly as if it would somehow block the sound. Stupid. His irises turned into pure barbs. His throat itched and he could taste plasma heating its way up to his mouth, which started glowing purple.

His vision turned red.

Astrid looked at him, terrified. Ryker hid himself behind the young rider when Toothless aimed at him.

He was mad. _That man was going to pay._

Instead of firing, Toothless jumped forward. He knocked himself against Ryker's legs with another ear-splitting screech.

 _NO ONE TOUCHES HICCUP!_

When the Dragon Hunter lost his balance, letting go of his human shield in consequence, Toothless smacked his tail against the man's chest, throwing him against the nearest wall of the arena. He briefly noticed Astrid racing forward to catch the unconscious boy before he hit the hard floor-

-Like Ryker had hit. Only Ryker still had so much coming to him.

Toothless pressed his entire weight on the man's chest, digging his claws there. The man let out a very un-tough-guy like shriek, his eyes widening when Toothless opened his...well, 'toothful' mouth completely and roared again, so loud that not even the explosions and screams around them seemed to exist. Ryker's head was just in the right place for him to close his jaws and...

The disgusting human shrieked, trying to free himself and so run away from under the black creature just like the coward he deep down was, but Toothless was done.

 _It hurts, doesn't it?!_ He sank his other paw in the man's arm, digging his talons there. _It hurts a lot doesn't it?! WELL IT MEANS NOTHING COMPARED TO MY LOSS- TO HICCUP-_

He let the distinct sound of his plasma blast increase, the neon purple appearing from the back of his throat and soon filling his whole mouth.

He wanted to kill him right there and then, but that also meant a quick death, and by the looks of his rider, he deserved a long and agonizing one.

Just when he was about to shoot, Astrid called him. He looked at the blonde, holding the auburn head against her chest.

"Hiccup needs you more now." Her voice seemed to whisper, although it was obvious that she was just as mad as him.

She- she was right. This wasn't him; he wasn't a killing machine like the Vikings used to call him. He was so much more than that. He was so much more than what people labeled him. And it was all thanks to Hiccup, who saw behind his black scales and animal instincts.

Living, growing with the boy had showed him that everyone deserved a second chance, (not Ryker if he really thought about it). Hiccup hated killing and blood-shed, he was a pacifist, and Toothless had kind of grown into those principles: Hiccup wouldn't want Toothless to cold-heartedly kill the scumbag- even if the scumbag killed Hiccup first.

He closed his mouth and simply stared at the man, hatred burning his every scale, fuming. Ryker's round eyes slowly returned to normal sized ones. That is, until Toothless promptly grabbed his tunic and with a swift, strong turn of his head threw the man against the rock wall again. Ryker crumpled to the floor, unconscious.

The Night Fury didn't waist another minute. He ran the short distance to the two Vikings. Astrid was calling for Hiccup, but the boy was simply too out of it.

Toothless whined, bumping his head with Hiccup's.

 _I'm here buddy. I'm right here, come on._

When he got no answer, not even a stir, Toothless despaired. He bumped his head with Hiccup's several times, before licking his dirty face and then sniffing the too still chest.

Astrid kept chanting something like "come on come on" over and over again. Toothless heard the crack in her voice, his once narrow irises turning to big black balls reflecting his best friend. The blonde let some tears fall down her cheeks and Toothless for once envied her. He wanted to cry as well, it only seemed proper at that moment- besides somewhat relieving.

She brought his chest to her hear and listened, not minding if her face would be full of his blood. The girl's grip on the boy's shoulder increased as the time passed by. Toothless found himself cooing heart brokenly, gently pawing his rider's limp hand, being careful to retract his sharp talons.

Astrid gasped, mumbling some sorrowful, incredulous sobs.

 _No, no. He couldn't. No, no no no no no…_ _No. Toothless couldn't let... He promised himself to always protect his little human, with his own life. He would never fail such promise. Hiccup couldn't- Toothless couldn't believe- no, it was all a sick joke. Ryker was a liar! He wasn't losing his family all over again!_

"Hi-Hiccup..." The Hooligan warrior stuttered. Toothless wrinkled his nose, denying it. Denying what she wanted to deny. But she couldn't hear his heart.

Still in a failed attempt to prove herself wrong, Astrid pressed her fingers on the side of his neck, in that specific spot that allowed the beating of his heart to be felt.

She gasped, but didn't dare the smallest of the smiles. Hiccup was still alive! She barely felt the small thump thump, but it was there, so weak that it wasn't even noticeable by listening to it on his chest.

Toothless looked at her with sorrowful, blank eyes before returning his gaze to the Haddock on her arms. He slowly placed his snout under the boy's limp hand, raising it just to- _Just to what?! Nothing will bring him back!_

Before insanity took place, Astrid shakily put her hand on his neck. "He's alive Toothless."

 _You're crazy Toothless._

 _She's just trying to cheer you up, out of pity._

 _Not that you deserve any, you let your best friend die the way he did, thinking what he thought, and remembering the last memories there were of you two. Sweet way to end..._

"It's barely there, but if we stop the bleeding there's a chance-" Yeah, her voice sounded so wonderful saying what he wanted to he-

A finger suddenly twitched on top of his head. Toothless' eyes grew wide; he straightened his back, rising to his usual size. Hiccup's hand slipped off his head in a very awkward way because of the look the dragon had on. It was, or would've been somewhat comical.

Instantly he jumped, turning his saddle towards Astrid. _He wouldn't waste this chance, no he wouldn't._

Astrid seemed to understand and soon he found her already mounted, having dragged Hiccup up before her and letting him sit in front of her. That way he could use her chest as a pillow.

The arena was empty despite them and the recently tamed Monstrous Nightmare that would probably follow them. It wasn't at all surprising to find Ryker gone. Even with his basic thinking, the Hunter knew better than to go back in and mess with a Night Fury that was out of its mind.

As her friends blasted the last of people away and the twin's laughed loudly in utter glee (of course they would wake up with explosions) a thought then crossed her mind. She felt a shiver on her spine. They were way too far away from the Edge and Berk even more so. Hiccup wouldn't last the next ten minutes if they didn't stitch the obvious wound close. They didn't have the stuff to do it there, on enemy area, and doing it on the back of a dragon sounded just as bad as covering him in Dragon Root and going for a walk in the Wilderness looking for dragons. They'd only end up doing much worse than the gash already was. They couldn't let him bleed to death either…

She widened her eyes.

There was one place though, that seemed to cover their two problems at once.

"To Trader Johan's boat boy. Fast."

...

First, came the now so familiar light-headedness. Not that he was actually seeing anything, so it was actually pretty dark.

Then came the surprising feeling of warmth, which only added to his head-splitting headache since last time he checked it was freezing and wet, as in I-can't-move-with-the-chills cold. Confusion always pained your head when you tried you figure things out after all.

Thirdly, came the tiredness. He was so tired, that it was exhausting. In the middle of his confusion, the acknowledgement that he had to open his eyelids came, but apparently his brain was out of order then. It was too much work too.

As if it wasn't enough, a stabbing feeling raced all over him coming from his stomach, or at least that's what he assumed. He felt himself gasp and, without meaning to, choking because of the way the pain connected with the slicing one on his many ribs, creating what felt like a net of agony slumped over his entire middle, turning the simple task of breathing into a breath taking one.

The impulse of coughing sent him up to a sitting position. His body shook with each violent cough, and every part of him trembled with the pain it triggered.

Suddenly feeling his body again didn't seem so great, and Hiccup almost cursed out loud, if he had the energy for it. Since he didn't, moaning worked well enough.

When he finally had his dry throat feeling like a dragon was clawing at it from all the coughs and so his lungs seemed satisfied enough with the "pleasant" result, Hiccup couldn't help but fall back. He knew he would hit his head on wherever; probably all of his bruises as well and hell would become inferno, though, sincerely, how much worse could he feel?

Something broke his fall but even the ricochet of his neck falling and then stopping made him cry out.

A coo replied as he was slowly and gently laid down onto wood. His bed- so he was back home! And that coo!

"Too-nhss" He almost rolled his eyes at how cracked his voice sounded. He waited for another coo, his heart suddenly beating at an astonishing speed for someone who was so... out of everything.

Just when he was about to assume he'd officially gone insane and was being tricked by his own mind into hearing exactly what he wanted to the most, another growl told him it was all real.

"Toot-" He smiled and, gathering all his few energy left, cracked his eyes open. It was bright, and a single blur stood above him. Ever so slowly, the blur started gaining form, and when he knew it, his eyes had become strangely watery at the sight of his beloved dragon. "He-hey bud-y"

Toothless bolted forward, suddenly overjoyed. HICCUP! HICCUP WAS AWAKE! HIS BUDDY WAS FINE!

YOU'RE AWAKE HICCUP! He yelled.

He nuzzled his nose against Hiccup's chest and neck. He took in his scent. Oh, how he'd missed him! Dragons used sent just as much as vision and audition. Not seeing nor hearing his rider's voice had been one of the worst parts, and the only sent he had had was the one from the boy's shoulder plate.

Hiccup let his hands fall on top of his dragon's head. He closed his eyes. There were moments when he thought he'd never see him again. " 'm sorry Toothless, 'm so sorry buddy- it's so good to see you..."

Toothless disentangled himself from his grip, and sniffed his face. No no, why are you crying again?

He cooed sadly, gluing his ear plates against his head, showing confusion. Hiccup let a little laugh, regretting it afterwards. His torso burned and his head pounded all over his body. He could feel bandages all around his middle, and the blanket covering him to his shoulders played the role of a tunic.

"Nah- it's f-fine bud. 'm fine, the-these are good-d t-tears." He sniffled. Toothless tilted his head. "Are you alright?"

The Unholy Offspring of Lightning and Death Itself broke his deadpanning records then.

"Oh don't lo-lo-ok at me like-ke tha-that! You could've gotten… hurt too!"

For a while, no one knew what to say. Toothless watched his rider. He was hurt and Toothless wanted nothing more than just go out and blast Ryker and the Hunters into oblivion, on one paw regretting not having done it when he had the chance, on the other one relieved he actually didn't kill the man.

He bounced his head against Hiccup again. Just to make sure he was really there and awake. Toothless had waited long, worry-full nights for that to happen, since according to Astrid the old woman with a staff who saved lives declared that the boy's body needed to regain strength, energy and heal itself with the help of stitches on the main wound. Besides that it also had to make up for the amount of blood it lost.

Given all that, he was expected to take time to wake up. Even then, Toothless couldn't help but worry of course, and he wanted desperately to see his rider awake, safe and sound- and to apologize.

But how do you show you're apologizing when all you can do is coo and growl and your best friend speaks in words? They didn't speak the same language.

Noticing Hiccup about to fall asleep from exhaustion, Toothless eagerly bolted towards the end of the room-

"Toothsss?"

-and returned with something in his mouth, held securely in his toothless gums. He lowered his head, pupils dilating. _"I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have overacted and because of me you almost died. I was just worried about you and your obsession; you were hurting yourself and forgot about us. But I didn't need to exaggerate either, it didn't do any good, and for that I'm sorry." He cooed, trying hard to forget the scene at their hut and then at the arena. "You're my best friend Hiccup, and I couldn't bear to lose you. I'm so, so sorry."_ Apologizing came surprisingly easy for someone as proud as him, but then again, after almost losing his other half, Toothless couldn't have cared less about who was right or wrong that one day.

Hiccup's eyes grew wide and round as he stared at the Night Fury cooing sadly non-stop and holding in between his gums, nothing more, nor nothing less than his old dragon stuffed toy, the one his mother'd given him.

Toothless carefully dropped the toy on the Viking's chest, and Hiccup shakily picked it up, agape. "It's sti-sti-tched up." Lines of thread kept the fabric together now, and if he had to guess it'd been Gothi to do it, concerning the way the thread was crossed.

Tears started to well up in his eyes, and hiccups on his chest. His dragon had asked the village's elder to stitch his stuffed dragon toy because of how sad Hiccup'd gotten when he broke it.

He stared at the toy for a while, vision beginning to get all splotched with water. Then he did something that surprised Toothless: he dropped the toy carelessly by his side and even gasping because it hurt horribly, shot to a sitting position, lacing his arms around the black dragon's neck, burying his face onto the warm scales.

Toothless ruffled his boy's hair with a huff of breath, curling his tale and wrapping his wings around the small human- his precious small human.

Everything was alright. He was alright. They were alright.

"I love you bu-buddy, you're the- the… best friend-d I've ever had and could've wished f-fo-for." Hiccup whispered, voice laced with tiredness but love nonetheless. "You're so much more i-important than a toy or obsess-ing over a mad man and so not thin-th-king about you. Wherever life takes me, takes you, takes us, I'll always be thinking about you bud. I promise."

Picking through his wings, he found Hiccup staring up at him with big, emotional green eyes. _"And I'll never let you leave my wing again buddy, you bet that. Not even for those crazy stunts you like to pull. I'll always protect you, over my dead body anyone'll hurt you again! And if I can't save you, then we'll stick together 'till the very, very end. I promise."_ He cooed his response, right before licking the boy's face and so earning a mouthful of complains.

After cleaning his face the best he could, Hiccup settled in against his dragon again, eyelids sliding shut in response to the comfortable warmth the wings and plasma core of the creature provided. He couldn't have cared less about the stabbing pain on his stomach.

"Thank you Tootl..ss"

 _No. Thank you Hiccup._

Years back, Toothless would never have thought he'd get along with a human, they were so mean after all, and being best friends with one- BAH! Crazy!

Now though, he'd loose his tailfin all over again and again and again, if it meant meeting Hiccup at that cove.

Soon enough, when Astrid came in to check on her friend again, she was delighted to see that, according to his new position, he'd awoken up.

But more than that, she was really delighted by finding both dragon and rider sleeping soundly together, as if the big black dragon was the boy's stuffed dragon toy.

The best part though-

-Hiccup's face and hair was completely covered in Night Fury saliva and Toothless rested with a gummy, sly smile.

 **So that was it, sorry for the disappointment bah! XD**

 **I added some "Easter eggs" of my own in there, congratulations if you got them! Some are not that easy hehe!**

 **Well, that was all. I'm already working on the next request (it's so cure aww you'll see then) but I might post some drabbles or even one-shots made of prompts before. I wrote them on my phone and now I finally have a desktop (Hallelujah!) so to clean the phone I'll just post them. It'll be fluff, I'm sad because of this one-shot, I loved writing it and good or bad, there are too many feels. Need to write something not angsty, more light (though some comfort never fails).**

 **That was all, I take my hat for all your support and sweetness. Thank you for all the constructive critics, it mean the world.**

 **Without further ado, ADOOOO! XD**

 **~~WhenToothlessWrites**


	5. Please put me down

**Hi guys, just wanted to let you know im not dead nor have been taken by aliens. Well... Sometimes the work we receive in school seems extraterrestial yes, especially the way they manage to make up evaluations between the rounds of tests y'know, when we're supposed to have a little rest. Anyway, school's been keeping me away sorry, but this year is crucial if i wanna go to college so NO SLACKING! (I haven't even watched more than 2 eps of rtt s5! *Cries*)**

 **Alright. Im working on Outcast, a request that is, but slowwwly so. Yesterday i had a small break and wrote this little drabble in about 10 minutes, so ill just post it and warn you im not gone.**

 **Again, terribly sorry. But don't give up on me please, just enjoy this cringy, crapy fluff shot.**

 **...**

 **Time: Race to the Edge, can be s4, s5 or between. You choose!**

 **...**

Prompt: please put me down it's just a sprained ankle

"Hey!" Astrid carelessly jumped from the back of her dragon, landing with a muffled thud on the wooden planks in front of the stables.

Stormfly squeaked, turning her head in curiosity as her human bolted towards the Night Fury and his rider.

More like his rider.

Hiccup groaned, sprawled on the floor uncerimoniously. The ground muffled his curses, and the night didn't do much to help him conserve some dignity.

Astrid knealed by her boyfriend, frowning as she helped him turn and change to a sitting position. Toothless sniffled his rider, bumping his nose against him. Then he licked the boy, and strangely bounded off,not without a small apparently irritated coo. Hiccup scratched his head.

"What happened?" She questioned, looking him over.

"I... Wanted to do... That?" He replied.

"No you didn't."

"Hey, it was a rethorical question."

"To whitch I had an answer, a rethorical answer. Now spit it out."

"That doesn't even make sense!" He complained.

Astrid crossed her arms. "I'm waiting."

Hiccup threw his hands up in the air, exasperated. Then he remembered they were quite useful against the ground, and before he fell over again, and embarrassed himself furthermore, returned them back to place. "I- Dammit!"

Astrid smiled smugly, seemingly satisfied with herself. "Ran out of supply huh?"

Hiccup pouted. " 'S nothing."

Then she deadpanned. "You know I have eyes, you see eyes," The blonde motioned to her face, " and can just see you lifting your foot off the ground right? Now Toothless isn''t fussing over you, so I' dare say you've twisted your ankle, nothing much. And because he's so annoyed at his buddy, I have an idea on the why."

Hiccup met her gaze for a moment- before turning back to his dragon, eagerly devouring a basket of fish along with his girlfriend's blue Deadly Nadder. He narrowed his eyes, "Traitor."

Astrid sighed. "Am I right or am I right?"

The auburn boy dropped his gaze. " 'S nothhhhiiiing." He hissed upon trying to shift position.

Astrid frowned, gently pulling at his boot. "You're too stubborn . It'll get you bad someday." She bit her lip.

Hiccup groaned, clenching his teeth when the thing came off. Great now his foot was hurt and his weakness exposed. "Go ahead." He muttered, "You can say it..."

Astrid seemed appealed by that. "I told you so." She declared, confidently shaking her head, "You shouldn't have pulled that stunt. I said: don't pull that stunt. You said: nah, I'm reckless and crazy." Her shoulders shook in every direction as her impersonation took life, her voice extra nasally on purpose, "If I crack a rib it's a good day- ooooohhh it's nasty!"

"F-First of all: Tha-That's noo-t me. I d-din't even say that. Sec-cond... I don't ha-ave a congestioned nose! Why're you-uu doing... that? Fin- Ouch! Do you mind?"

"I'm checking to see if it's broken babe."

"Fffsssss... Wait?- Did- did you just call m' bab-be?"

"I have the right to give you a pet name as well. Eeek! It's turning purple and bigger- though you're lucky, I don't think it's broken."

"Yay...! Lucky me!" Hiccup rolled his eyes. "And milady is not a pet name, Milady."

Astrid tapped her fingers on the ankle, flinching at how horrible it looked. Besides horrible it seemed funny- if painful could be funny.

" 'ssstrid!" Came the complain. "Sorry!" She instantly put the boot back, helping settle the foot comfortably on the ground. Hiccup hissed, scrunching his eyebrows in pain. "Woah... M' dizzy." She didn't doubt it. It was getting cooler and would only feel worse from then on. Besides, even if it didn't seem broken, Astrid wouldn't risk it and would have Fishlegs check it- it really was nastly bruised, what a bad sprain.

"Come on, let's get you to Fishlegs." She said. Hiccup shook his head no. " 'm fine." He insisted, eyes closed as he tried to apply pressure on the injury. "I won't sleep if he doesn't check on it. Besides how are you planning on flying Toothless if it doesn't get better." Ohhh he wanted to get up and not have messed up their night flight like everything he touched. "M' sorry..."

He felt a gentle, cool hand on his cheek and soft lips against his forehead. "Not your fault babe... Wait- it is."

Alright. He blushed.

Then, the world turned lighter and the ground vanished from beneath him. "WOAH WOAH WHOAH!" Hiccup's eyes snapped open, finding the blonde warrior holding him in her arms. Astrid seemed pretty satisfied with herself. "Would you put me down! It's just a sprained ankle!" Hiccup argued.

"Actually" she said, "It's your only ankle."

Hiccup looked down at his prosthetic, mouth opening and closing like a fish.

Then he hid his face in his hands.


End file.
